John Agard

John Agard

John Agard

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BIOGRAPHY

PLAYWRIGHT, POET, SHORT-STORY AND CHILDREN 'S WRITER JOHN AGARD WAS BORN ON 21 JUNE 1949 IN BRITISH GUIANA (NOW GUYANA). HE WORKED FOR THE GUYANA SUNDAY CHRONICLE NEWSPAPER AS SUB-EDITOR AND FEATURE WRITER BEFORE MOVING TO ENGLAND IN 1977, WHERE HE BECAME A TOURING LECTURER FOR THE COMMONWEALTH INSTITUTE, TRAVELLING TO SCHOOLS THROUGHOUT THE UK TO PROMOTE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF CARIBBEAN CULTURE. IN 1993 HE WAS APPOINTED WRITER IN RESIDENCE AT THE SOUTH BANK CENTRE, LONDON, AND BECAME POET IN RESIDENCE AT THE BBC IN LONDON, AN APPOINTMENT CREATED AS PART OF A SCHEME RUN BY THE POETRY SOCIETY IN LONDON. HE ALSO PLAYED A KEY ROLE IN THE 'WINDRUSH ' SEASON OF PROGRAMMES IN 1998. HE WON THE PAUL HAMLYN AWARD FOR POETRY IN 1997 AND HAS TRAVELLED EXTENSIVELY THROUGHOUT THE WORLD PERFORMING HIS POETRY.

HIS PUBLISHED POETRY INCLUDES MAN TO PAN (1982), WINNER OF THE CASA DE LAS AMÉRICAS PRIZE, LIMBO DANCER IN DARK GLASSES (1983), MANGOES AND BULLETS: SELECTED AND NEW POEMS 1972-84 (1985) AND WEBLINES (2000). HE IS ALSO THE AUTHOR OF MANY CHILDREN 'S BOOKS, INCLUDING LEND ME YOUR WINGS (1987), WHICH WAS SHORTLISTED FOR THE NESTLÉ SMARTIES BOOK PRIZE. HE HAS CONTRIBUTED TO, AND EDITED, SEVERAL ANTHOLOGIES, INCLUDING THE PENGUIN BOOK OF CARIBBEAN VERSE (1986), AND IS ALSO CO-EDITOR OF A CARIBBEAN DOZEN (1994) WITH HIS PARTNER, THE POET GRACE NICHOLS, WITH WHOM HE ALSO CO-WROTE NO HICKORY, NO DICKORY, NO DOCK IN 1991. THEIR LATEST COLLABORATION IS TIGER DEAD! TIGER DEAD! STORIES FROM THE CARIBBEAN (2008).

John Agard lives in south-east England. His poetry collection We Brits (2006), was shortlisted for the 2007 British Book Awards Decibel Writer of the Year award. His latest poetry collection is Clever Backbone (2009). A further

Bibliography: 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 Caribbean Poetry Now   (contributor)   Hodder & Stoughton, 1984 Mangoes and Bullets: Selected and New Poems 1972-84   Pluto Press, 1985 Say It Again, Granny!   Bodley Head, 1986 The Penguin Book of Caribbean Verse   (contributor)   Penguin, 1986 Lend Me Your Wings   Hodder & Stoughton, 1987 Life Doesn 't Frighten Me At All   (editor)   Heinemann, 1989 Go Noah Go!   Hodder & Stoughton, 1990 Laughter is an Egg   Viking, 1990 The Calypso Alphabet   Collins, 1990 Border Country: Poems in Progress   (contributor)   Wood Wind Publications, 1991 No Hickory, No Dickory, No Dock   (with Grace Nichols)   Viking, 1991 Grandchildren of Albion   (contributor)   New Departures, 1992 Heinemann Book of Caribbean Poetry   (contributor)   Heinemann, 1992 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 A Caribbean Dozen   (co-edited with Grace Nichols)   Walker Books, 1994 Granfather '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 Poems in My Earphone   (editor)   Longman, 1995 Another Day on Your Foot and I Would Have Died   (contributor)   Macmillan Children 's Books, 1996 Get Back, Pimple!   Viking, 1996 We Animals Would Like a Word With You   Bodley Head, 1996 Why is the Sky?   (editor)   Faber and Faber, 1996 From the Devil 's Pulpit   Bloodaxe, 1997 Brer Rabbit: The Great Tug-o-war   Bodley Head, 1998 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   (editor)   Orchard, 2000 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, Grace Nichols, Nick Toczek and Mike Rosen)   LDA, 2002 Under the Moon and Over the Sea   (co-editor with Grace Nichols)   Walker Books, 2002 Einstein the Girl That Hated Maths   Hodder Children 's Books, 2003 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 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 Nicholls, illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura)   Collins Educational, 2008 Alternative Anthem: Selected Poems   (with DVD)   Bloodaxe, 2009 Clever Backbone   Bloodaxe, 2009