John Agard

FRSL The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the ...

(born 21 June 1949) is a Guyanese-born British

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and children's writer. In 2012, he was selected for the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry."Poet John Agard is selected for Queen's poetry medal"
BBC News, 20 December 2012. He was awarded BookTrust's Lifetime Achievement Award in November 2021.

Biography

Agard was born in

British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies. It was located on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first known Europeans to encounter Guia ...

(now

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

), and grew up in Georgetown. He loved to listen to

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

commentary on the radio and began making up his own, which led to a love of language. He went on to study English, French and Latin at

A-Level The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational ...

, writing his first published poetry when he was in the 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.John Agard profile
at Jubilee Books. His father (Ted) settled in London and Agard moved to Britain with his partner Grace Nichols in 1977, settling in

Ironbridge Ironbridge is a riverside village in the borough of Telford and Wrekin, Shropshire, England. Located on the bank of the River Severn, at the heart of the Ironbridge Gorge, it lies in the civil parish of The Gorge. Ironbridge developed beside, ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

. He worked for the

Commonwealth Institute The Commonwealth Education Trust was a registered charity established in 2007 as the successor trust to the Commonwealth Institute. The trust focuses on primary and secondary education and the training of teachers and invests on educational pr ...

and the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

in London. His awards included the 1997 Paul Hamlyn Award for Poetry, the

Cholmondeley Award The Cholmondeley Awards ( ) are annual awards for poetry given by the Society of Authors in the United Kingdom. Awards honour distinguished poets, from a fund endowed by the Dowager Marchioness of Cholmondeley in 1966. Since 1991 the award has bee ...

in 2004 and the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 2012. In November 2021 he became the first poet to be awarded BookTrust's Lifetime Achievement Award. Agard was poet-in-residence at the

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unit ...

in 2008. His poems " Half Caste" and "Checking Out Me History" have been featured in the

Edexcel Edexcel (also known since 2013 as Pearson Edexcel) is a British multinational education and examination body formed in 1996 and wholly owned by Pearson plc since 2005. It is the only privately owned examination board in the United Kingdom. It ...

and

AQA AQA Education, trading as AQA (formerly the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance), is an awarding body in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It compiles specifications and holds Test (assessment), examinations in various subjects at Genera ...

English

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

anthologies respectively, meaning that many students (aged 13–16) have studied his work for their GCSE English qualifications. Archival literary records consisting of "letters and proofs relating to the published poetry works of John Agard" are held at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...

Special Collections, in the

Bloodaxe Books Bloodaxe Books is a British publishing house specializing in poetry. History Bloodaxe Books was founded in 1978 in Newcastle upon Tyne by Neil Astley, who is still editor and managing director. Bloodaxe moved its editorial office to Northumbe ...

Archive. Agard lives in

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider Lewes (district), district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the Sou ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement ...

, with his partner, the Guyanese poet Grace Nichols.

Bibliography

*''Listen Mr Oxford Don'', 1967 *''Shoot Me With Flowers''. Georgetown, Guyana, 1974 *''Letters for Lettie, and Other Stories''. Bodley Head, 1978 *''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, 1982 *''Limbo Dancer in Dark Glasses''. Greenheart, 1983 *''Livingroom''.

Black Ink India ink (British English: Indian ink; also Chinese ink) is a simple black or coloured ink once widely used for writing and printing and now more commonly used for drawing and outlining, especially when inking comic books and comic strips. I ...

, 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, 1998 *''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 *''Brer Rabbit: The Great Tug-o-war''. Bodley Head, 1998 *''Points of View with Professor Peekabo''. Bodley Head, 2000 *''Weblines''. Bloodaxe, 2000 *''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 Jacqueline Margaret Kay (born 9 November 1961) is a Scottish poet, playwright, and novelist, known for her works ''Other Lovers'' (1993), ''Trumpet'' (1998) and ''Red Dust Road'' (2011). Kay has won many awards, including the Somerset Maugham A ...

, Grace Nichols, Nick Toczek and Mike Rosen). LDA, 2002 *''Hello H2O''. 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 *''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 *''Checking Out Me History'', 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. *''Clever Backbone''.Bloodaxe, 2009 *''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. *''The Rainmaker Danced'' (illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura). Hodder Children's Books, 2017. *''The Coming of the Little Green Man'', 2018 *''Shona, the Word Detective'', 2018 *''Books Make Good Pets'', 2020

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

Awards

*1982:

Casa de las Américas Prize The Casa de las Américas Prize (''Premio Literario Casa de las Américas'') is a literary award given by the Cuban Casa de las Américas. Established in 1959, it is one of Latin America’s oldest and most prestigious literary prizes. The award ...

(Cuba) for ''Man to Pan'' *1987:

Nestlé Smarties Book Prize The Nestlé Children's Book Prize, and Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for a time, was a set of annual awards for British children's books that ran from 1985 to 2007. It was administered by BookTrust, an independent charity that promotes books and r ...

(shortlist) for ''Lend Me Your Wings'' *1995:

(Bronze Award) (6–8 years category) for ''We Animals Would Like a Word With You'' *1997: Paul Hamlyn Award for Poetry *2004:

*2007:

British Book Awards The British Book Awards or Nibbies are literary awards for the best UK writers and their works, administered by ''The Bookseller''. The awards have had several previous names, owners and sponsors since being launched in 1990, including the Na ...

Decibel Writer of the Year (shortlist) for ''We Brits'' *2007: Elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the ...

*2009: Centre for Literacy in Primary Education poetry award for ''The Young Inferno''. *2012: Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry"Poet John Agard is selected for Queen's poetry medal"
BBC News (20 December 2012). Retrieved 15 February 2013. *2021: BookTrust Lifetime Achievement Award

References

External links

''Shoot Me with Flowers''

The British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

, 23 November 2021 – Asgard's first book of poems acquired for the British Library's collection
"John Agard: Making Waves at the BBC"
The Poetry Society. * (includes extensive bibliography)

* An example of John Agard reading his poetry – . {{DEFAULTSORT:Agard, John 1949 births Living people Black British writers Guyanese people of African descent British children's writers British dramatists and playwrights Guyanese children's writers Guyanese dramatists and playwrights Postcolonial literature Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature 20th-century British poets 21st-century British poets 21st-century British male writers Writers from Georgetown, Guyana British male poets British male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Guyanese poets 21st-century Guyanese poets Guyanese emigrants to England People from Lewes