Blog Tour: Bringing Back Kay-Kay
Today, I am delighted to be taking part in the Blog Tour for ‘Bringing Back Kay-Kay’. Sensitively written, it is a beautiful exploration of sibling love, a gripping mystery and a celebration of the power of poetry.
For me, ‘Bringing Back Kay-Kay was a one-sitting read! Beautifully written, the story is about Lena, whose brother, Kay-Kay, goes missing whilst on a school trip. Overcome with grief, their parents put their trust in the police and hope that they will find him. However, Lena is sure that one of Kay-Kay’s friends knows more than he is letting on and so sets off on a quest to find her beloved brother and bring him home.
The story unfolds through Lena’s thoughts, actions and memories, building a picture of her complex family relationship. She feels like the ‘difficult’ child, somehow lesser than her perfect brother, almost, at times, unwanted and yet her closeness to her sibling is never in doubt. As she searches for Kay-Kay, she explores her memories and realises just how much her brother does for her- and starts to understand just how difficult things have been for him. Discovering his poetry, Lena discovers how he feels the weight of parental expectations bearing down on him and comes to understand her brother even more. I cannot recommend this book highly enough- it will take you on an emotional rollercoaster whilst engaging you fully in an excellent and carefully constructed adventure.
Poetry has always been very important to me, both personally and as a teacher, and it is a joy to see how Kay-Kay was able to express his inner feelings in this way and how his sister responded to his words. Below, Dev Kothari explains why she chose to use poetry in her story.
Magic of poetry
I’ve always found poetry magical. I still remember some of the poems I learnt at school, while growing up in India, like P. B. Shelley’s Mutability or Christina Rossetti’s Who Has Seen The Wind or Bhawani Prasad Mishra’s Satpura Ke Jungle. Even then, I was struck by the power of verse – it’s ability to connect with you at a deeper, emotional, instinctual level. Over the years, I’ve read a lot of poetry works. But it took me a while to figure out the kind of poetry that speaks to me. Verses that are simple yet profound, that make time stop for me, that make me feel. The poetry of Rumi and Mary Oliver, of Wisława Szymborska and Do Jong Hwan, of Gulzaar saab and Michael Rosen. My life is so much richer because of the gifts of poetry. And I think that’s why it makes its way into my writing too, in some shape or form. In fact, my very first attempts at writing, right from my childhood were in the form of poems. So, it’s probably not a surprise that there’s poetry in Bringing Back Kay-Kay too. When I began writing it, I didn’t particularly set out to make Kay-Kay a poet. It just turned out that way, when I wrote the scene about Lena finding one of his poems in an old copy of Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet (naturally!). Of course he’s a poet, I thought. In that instant, suddenly, Kay-Kay became real to me. I love that Kay-Kay is able to pen his thoughts and worries, dreams and fears through poetry. I love that Lena and the readers get to know him better through his poems. And I love that I get to spread some of the magic of poetry through this story. Wouldn’t it be an absolute joy and privilege, if reading this story inspires young people to read more poetry and write it too?
Bringing Back Kay-Kay by Dev Kothari (£7.99, Walker Books) available now.
Many thanks to Dev Kothari and the lovely team at Walker Books for inviting me to take part in this Blog Tour. Keep an eye out for the other stops on the tour to find out more about this wonderful book!