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Whose Song to Sing
A Memoir
Brief Description
How does an adopted person construct their identity? In this collection of essays, Ben Wildsmith relates the key events of a turbulent life and considers the factors that shaped his nature. Examining notions of culture, belonging, authenticity, and family, Whose Song to Sing? takes us from...
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Description
How does an adopted person construct their identity? In this collection of essays, Ben Wildsmith relates the key events of a turbulent life and considers the factors that shaped his nature.
Examining notions of culture, belonging, authenticity, and family, Whose Song to Sing? takes us from 1970s Birmingham to South Wales in the 2020s, via America, Australia, and Thailand.
Wildsmith offers an adoptee's take on societyβironic and occasionally causticβas he struggles to carve out a space within it. As family life disintegrates, he seeks refuge in culture, always returning to the songs and stories of the Valleys, the gift of his adoptive grandfather.
We follow a path from childhood privilege to addiction and despair, before the healing power of community offers a route to happiness.
Unflinching and frequently comic, Whose Song to Sing? shows how establishing a viable identity from uncertain materials can be a creative act, and a life's work.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781915279989
Publisher: University of Wales Press
Format: Hardback
Date Published: 05 February 2026
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Calon
Illustration: Not illustrated
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 135.0mm
Height: 216.0mm
Weight: 0g
Pages: 224
About the Author
Ben Wildsmith was born in Birmingham when Chuck Berry's 'My Ding a Ling' was number one in the charts. He's been a fright, a new start, a doley, a bank clerk, a laundryman, a gardener, a liability, a lecturer, a shopkeeper, a musician and a friend. He's a Nation. Cymru columnist, and a Hay Festival Writer@Work whose poetry has appeared in Red Poets and Poetry Wales. Ben is a support worker with Cardiff's homeless community. He lives in Rhondda Fach with his wife, Susie, and an assortment of questionable notions.
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