John Agard
Encyclopedia
John Agard is an Afro-Guyanese
Afro-Guyanese
Afro-Guyanese people are the inhabitants of Guyana of Black African origin...

 playwright, poet and children's writer, now living in the United Kingdom.

Background

Agard grew up in Georgetown, British Guyana. He loved to listen to cricket 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, writing his first poetry when he was in the sixth-form. Leaving 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 whilst still in Guyana.John Agard profile at Jubilee Books. His father settled in London and Agard moved to the UK with his partner Grace Nichols
Grace Nichols
Grace Nichols is a Guyanese poet. She was born in Georgetown, Guyana, in 1950. After working in Guyana as a teacher and journalist, she emigrated to the UK in 1977. Much of her poetry is characterised by Caribbean rhythms and culture, and influenced by Guyanese and Amerindian folklore.Her first...

 in 1977, settling in Ironbridge
Ironbridge
Ironbridge is a settlement on the River Severn, at the heart of the Ironbridge Gorge, in Shropshire, England. It lies in the civil parish of The Gorge, in the borough of Telford and Wrekin...

, Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...

. He worked for the Commonwealth Institute
Commonwealth Institute
The Commonwealth Institute was an educational charity connected with the Commonwealth of Nations, and the name of a building in West London formerly owned by the Institute...

 and the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 in London. His awards include the Paul Hamlyn Award for Poetry in 1997 and the Cholmondeley Award
Cholmondeley Award
The Cholmondeley Award is an annual award for poetry given by the Society of Authors in the United Kingdom. Awards honour distinguished poets, from a fund endowed by the late Dowager Marchioness of Cholmondeley in 1966...

 in 2004. Agard was Poet-in-Residence at the National Maritime Museum
National Maritime Museum
The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England is the leading maritime museum of the United Kingdom and may be the largest museum of its kind in the world. The historic buildings forming part of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site, it also incorporates the Royal Observatory, Greenwich,...

 in 2008. His poem Half Caste
Half Caste (poem)
Half-Caste is a poem by John Agard, which looks at people's ideas and usage of the word 'half-caste'. The poem is taken from Agard's 2005 collection of the same name, in which he explores a range of issues affecting black and mixed-race identity in the UK. Since 2002 the poem has been in the AQA...

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. Agard now lives in Lewes
Lewes
Lewes is the county town of East Sussex, England and historically of all of Sussex. It is a civil parish and is the centre of the Lewes local government district. The settlement has a history as a bridging point and as a market town, and today as a communications hub and tourist-oriented town...

, in East Sussex
East Sussex
East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...

.

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
  • 2003 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.

Books by 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, 1987
  • 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
    Grace Nichols
    Grace Nichols is a Guyanese poet. She was born in Georgetown, Guyana, in 1950. After working in Guyana as a teacher and journalist, she emigrated to the UK in 1977. Much of her poetry is characterised by Caribbean rhythms and culture, and influenced by Guyanese and Amerindian folklore.Her first...

    ) 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
  • 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
  • Get Back, Pimple! Viking, 1996
  • We Animals Would Like a Word With You Bodley Head, 1996
  • From the Devil's Pulpit Bloodaxe, 1997 ISBN 978-185444-406-4
  • Brer Rabbit: The Great Tug-o-war Bodley Head, 1998
  • Points of View with Professor Peekabo Bodley Head, 2000
  • Weblines Bloodaxe, 2000 ISBN 978-158224-480-4
  • 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 Nicholls, 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

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


External links

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