A windy place

This is how Jackie Kay describes the aloneness of an adopted person who does not know about lines of heredity, stories of ancestors or family ties. In her latest book Red dust road, Jackie Kay tells the story of finding her birth parents and recognising her special ancestry. Many of her published poems have explored adoptive situations but this autobiography tells her very own story in a humourous and moving way.

I was very fortunate to hear her reading several passages from the book during the Beverley Literature Festival. Her presence is surprising; afro hairstyle, mid brown skin and broad Scottish accent, but so commanding. Her reading is always a performance and the message comes across loud and clear. I ventured to ask a question (I'm more used to running around with a microphone than speaking into one) as she had read about her birth father, her adopted mother and adopted brother and I wondered if the writing about her birth mother was more difficult? Indeed, she admitted that story is sadder and that she was unable to write about it with the humour that characterised the telling of Daniel's story but she agreed to read an extra short piece that the audience found very moving.

Jackie said that there are 3 families in this book which is a multivoiced memoir even allowing room for the reader to tell their own story along the way. What really struck me was the portrait of her adoptive parents as the most loving, understanding, conscientious people. The red dust road refers to the landscape of Nigeria that overwhelmed her on first arrival in the country. Her new relationship is to her ancestral land rather than to her father. And her final comment was that the story is still unfolding. Jackie Kay's ability to communicate so much through her prose and poetry is astounding. Listen to her here