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A memoir that reflects on how writer Ben Wildsmith constructed his identity post-adoption.
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 society--ironic and occasionally caustic--as 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 out of uncertainty can be a creative act and one's life's work.
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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.
