Tabitha Lasley & Musa Okwonga - Fish Out-of-Water Memoirs

Fish Out-of-Water Memoirs
Tabitha Lasley & Musa Okwonga chaired by Vanessa Collingridge

1pm – 2pm BST*
 

Tabitha Lasley’s Sea State is a candid examination of the life of North Sea oil riggers, and an explosive portrayal of masculinity, loneliness and female desire. In her mid-30s and sprung out of a terrible relationship, Tabitha quit her job at a women’s magazine, left London and put her savings into a six-month lease on a flat in a dodgy neighbourhood in Aberdeen – she was going to make good on a long-deferred idea for a book about oil rigs and the men who work on them. Why oil rigs? “I wanted to see what men were like, with no women around.” Musa Okwonga - a young Black man who grew up in a predominantly working-class town - was not your typical Eton College student. The experience moulded him, challenged him... and made him wonder why a place that was so good for him also seems to contribute to the harm being done to the UK. Woven throughout One of Them is a present-day narrative which engages with much wider questions about pressing social and political issues: privilege, the distribution of wealth, the rise of the far-right in the UK, systemic racism, the 'boys' club' of government and the power of the few to control the fate of the many.

 
*This performance is live and will be available to watch for three weeks after the broadcast date to accommodate different time zones.
 
This performance is included in the Aye Write 2021 festival pass, so you will not need to purchase this event if you have already purchased a pass.


Books are available to purchase from our bookseller partner Bookshop.org. Bookshop.org supports independent booksellers and for every book purchased 10% comes back to Aye Write and Wee Write, helping to invest in our city’s book festival and reader development programmes.