{"title":"Jackie Kay","description":"\u003cp\u003eJackie Kay's work offers a captivating exploration of identity, culture, and personal history through rich narratives and poetic prose. Her writing often weaves together elements of \u003cem\u003earts and culture\u003c\/em\u003e with deeply resonant stories that illuminate the complexities of human experience.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReaders can expect memoirs and biographies that are both intimate and thought-provoking, examining lives with honesty and sensitivity. Titles like \u003cstrong\u003eBessie Smith\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eRed Dust Road\u003c\/strong\u003e showcase her compelling voice in portraying the intersections of personal journey and cultural heritage.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"bessie-smith-by-jackie-kay-9780571362929","title":"Bessie Smith","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'The most vivid evocation of Bessie Smith I have ever read'\u003c\/em\u003e - Ian Carr, BBC Music\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'[Bessie Smith] showed me the air and taught me how to fill it ... she's the reason I started singing, really'\u003c\/em\u003e - Janis Joplin\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBessie Smith\u003c\/em\u003e: singer, icon, pioneer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBessie Smith was born in Tennessee in 1894. Orphaned by the age of nine, she sang on street corners before becoming a big name in travelling shows. In 1923, she made her first recording for a new start-up called Columbia Records. It sold 780,000 copies, making her a star. Smith's life was notoriously difficult: she drank pints of \"bathtub gin\", got into violent fist fights, spent huge sums of money, and had passionate love affairs with men and women. She once single-handedly fought off a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs a young black girl growing up in Glasgow, Jackie Kay found in Bessie someone with whom she could identify and who she could idolise. In this remarkable book, Kay mixes biography, fiction, poetry and prose to create an enthralling account of an extraordinary life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46542955675884,"sku":"9780571362929","price":26.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/11305403482391.jpg?v=1749726182"},{"product_id":"red-dust-road-by-jackie-kay-9781529077230","title":"Red Dust Road","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF PICADOR BOOKS\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eYou think adoption is a story which has an end. But the point about it is that it has no end. It keeps changing its ending.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the moment when, as a little girl, she realises that her skin is a different colour from that of her beloved mum and dad, to the tracing and finding of her birth parents, her Highland mother and Nigerian father, Jackie Kay's journey in \u003cem\u003eRed Dust Road\u003c\/em\u003e is one of unexpected twists, turns and deep emotions. In a book remarkable for its warmth and candour, Kay discovers that inheritance is about much more than genes: that we are shaped by songs as much as by cells, and that what triumphs, ultimately, is love.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTaking the reader from Glasgow to Lagos and beyond, \u003cem\u003eRed Dust Road\u003c\/em\u003e is a heart-stopping story of parents and siblings, friends and strangers, belonging and beliefs, biology and destiny.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'Like the best memoirs, this one is written with novelistic and poetic flair. Red Dust Road is a fantastic, probing and heart-warming read'\u003c\/em\u003e - Independent\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePart of the Picador Collection, a new series showcasing the best of modern literature.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Macmillan Publishers New Zealand Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48243839566060,"sku":"9781529077230","price":31.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781529077230-red-dust-road-1.jpg?v=1787989828"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/collections\/jackie-kay.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}