John Agard
| John Agard | |
|---|---|
| Born |
21 June 1949 British Guiana |
| Occupation | playwright, poet and children's writer |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | Guyanesee |
| Ethnicity | Afro-Guyanese[1] |
| Citizenship | Jamaican |
| Education | St Alban's Academy |
John Agard (born 21 June 1949 in British Guiana) is an Afro-Guyanese playwright, poet and children's writer, now living in Britain. In 2012, he was selected for the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.[2]
Background
Agard grew up in Georgetown, British Guiana (now Guyana). He loved to listen to cricket commentary on the radio and began making up his own, which led to a love of language.[3] He went on to study English, French and Latin at A-level, writing his first poetry when he was in sixth-form, and left school in 1967. He taught the languages he had studied and worked in a local library. He was also a sub-editor and feature writer for the Guyana Sunday Chronicle, publishing two books while he was still in Guyana.[3]
His father settled in London and Agard moved to Britain with his partner Grace Nichols in 1977, settling in Ironbridge, Shropshire.[4][5] He worked for the Commonwealth Institute and the BBC in London.
His awards included the 1997 Paul Hamlyn Award for Poetry,[6] the Cholmondeley Award in 2004 and the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 2012.[2]
Agard was Poet-in-Residence at the National Maritime Museum in 2008. His poem Half Caste has been featured in the AQA English GCSE anthology since 2002, meaning that many students (aged 14 – 16) have studied his work for their GCSE English qualification.
He lives in Lewes, East Sussex, with his partner, the Guyanese poet Grace Nicholls.[4]
Awards
- 1982: Casa de las Américas Prize (Cuba) for Man to Pan
- 1987: Nestlé Smarties Book Prize (shortlist) for Lend Me Your Wings
- 1995: Nestlé Smarties Book Prize (Bronze Award) (6–8 years category) for We Animals Would Like a Word With You
- 1997: Paul Hamlyn Award for Poetry
- 2004: Cholmondeley Award
- 2007: British Book Awards Decibel Writer of the Year (shortlist) for We Brits
- 2009: Centre for Literacy in Primary Education poetry award for The Young Inferno.[7]
- 2012: Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry[8]
Literature by John Agard
- Shoot Me With Flowers. Published in Georgetown, Guyana, 1974
- Letters for Lettie, and Other Stories. Bodley Head, 1979
- Dig Away Two-Hole Tim. Bodley Head, 1981
- Man to Pan. Casa de las Américas (Cuba), 1982
- I Din Do Nuttin, and Other Poems. Bodley Head, 1983
- Limbo Dancer in Dark Glasses. Greenheart, 1983
- Livingroom. Black Ink, 1983
- Mangoes and Bullets: Selected and New Poems 1972–84. Pluto Press, 1985
- Say It Again, Granny!. Bodley Head, 1986
- Lend Me Your Wings. Hodder & Stoughton, 199886446645345235
- Go Noah Go!. Hodder & Stoughton, 1990
- Laughter is an Egg. Viking, 1990
- The Calypso Alphabet. Collins, 1990
- No Hickory, No Dickory, No Dock (with Grace Nichols). Viking, 1991
- The Emperor's Dan-dan. Hodder & Stoughton, 1992
- A Stone's Throw from Embankment: The South Bank Collection. Royal Festival Hall, 1993
- The Great Snakeskin. Ginn, 1993
- Grandfather's Old Bruk-a-Down Car. Bodley Head, 1994
- Oriki and the Monster Who Hated Balloons. Longman, 1994
- The Monster Who Loved Cameras. Longman, 1994
- The Monster Who Loved Telephones. Longman, 1994
- The Monster Who Loved Toothbrushes. Longman, 1994
- Eat a Poem, Wear a Poem. Heinemann Young Books, 1995
- Get Back, Pimple!. Viking, 1996
- We Animals Would Like a Word With You. Bodley Head, 1996
- From the Devil's Pulpit. Bloodaxe, 1997 ISBN 1-85224-406-2
- Brer Rabbit: The Great Tug-o-war. Bodley Head, 1998
- Points of View with Professor Peekabo. Bodley Head, 2000
- Weblines. Bloodaxe, 2000 ISBN 1-85224-480-1
- Come Back to Me My Boomerang (with Lydia Monks). Orchard, 2001
- Einstein, The Girl Who Hated Maths. Hodder Children's Books, 2002
- Number Parade: Number Poems from 0–100 (with Jackie Kay, Grace Nichols, Nick Toczek and Mike Rosen). LDA, 2002
- Hello H20. Hodder Children's Books, 2003
- From Mouth to Mouth (with Grace Nichols; illustrated by Annabel Wright). Walker, 2004
- Baby Poems. Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2005
- Half-Caste. Hodder & Stoughton, 2005
- Butter-Finger (with Bob Cattell, illustrated by Pam Smy) Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2006
- We Brits. Bloodaxe, 2006 ISBN 978-1-85224-733-1
- Wriggle Piggy Toes (with Jenny Bent). Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2006
- Shine On, Butter-Finger (with Bob Cattell, illustrated by Pam Smy). Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2007
- The Young Inferno (illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura). Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2008
- Tiger Dead! Tiger Dead!: Stories from the Caribbean (with Grace Nichols, illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura). Collins Educational, 2008
- Alternative Anthem: Selected Poems (with DVD). Bloodaxe, 2009 ISBN 978-1-85224-823-9
- Clever Backbone. Bloodaxe, 2009 ISBN 978-1-85224-822-2
- The Young Inferno (illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura). Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2009
- Goldilocks on CCTV (illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura). Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2011
- Travel Light Travel Dark. Bloodaxe, 2013 ISBN 978-1-85224-991-5
As editor
- Life Doesn't Frighten Me At All. Heinemann, 1989
- A Caribbean Dozen (co-edited with Grace Nichols). Walker Books, 1994
- Poems in My Earphone. Longman, 1995
- Why is the Sky?. Faber and Faber, 1996
- A Child's Year of Stories and Poems (with Michael Rosen and Robert Frost). Viking Children's Books, 2000
- Hello New!: New Poems for a New Century. Orchard, 2000
- Under the Moon and Over the Sea (co-editor with Grace Nichols). Walker Books, 2002
References
- ↑ Filipczak, D. (2010). "Memory and Myth: Postcolonial Religion in Contemporary Guyanese Fiction and Poetry. By Fiona Darroch". Literature and Theology. 24: 89. doi:10.1093/litthe/frq001.
- 1 2 "Poet John Agard is selected for Queen's poetry medal", BBC News, 20 December 2012.
- 1 2 John Agard profile at Jubilee Books.
- ↑ Dawes, Kwame Senu Neville (2001). Talk yuh talk: interviews with Anglophone Caribbean poets. University of Virginia Press. p. 244. ISBN 9780813919461.
- ↑ Anne Mette Finderup, Agnete Fog (2010). Worlds of English. p. 222. ISBN 9788761622426.
- ↑ Awards for Artists, Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
- ↑ "Carol Ann Duffy to judge Old Possum's prize". The Guardian, 14 July 2009. Retrieved on 15 February 2013.
- ↑ "Poet John Agard is selected for Queen's poetry medal". BBC News (20 December 2012). Retrieved on 15 February 2013.
External links
- "John Agard: Making Waves at the BBC". The Poetry Society.
- John Agard at British Council: Literature (includes extensive bibliography)
- John Agard at the National Maritime Museum
- An example of John Agard reading his poetry – "Listen Mr Oxford don" on YouTube.