John Agard

John Agard (born June 21, 1949) is a playwright, poet and children's writer from Guyana, who moved to the United Kingdom in 1977. He worked for the Commonwealth Institute from 1978 to 1985, travelling throughout the United Kingdom as a touring reader promoting the Caribbean culture to over 2000 schools. He currently resides in Lewes, near Brighton with his partner, the poet Grace Nichols. He became the first Writer in Residence at the South Bank Centre in London and became Poet in Residence at the BBC in London as well. He has won a total of five awards for his works, including the Paul Hamlyn Award for Poetry in 1997 and the Cholmondeley Award in 2004. John was Poet-in-Residence at the National Maritime Museum from August to November 2008. His poetry (Half Caste) has been featured in the AQA English GCSE anthology since 2002 - meaning that many GCSE students (Aged 14 - 16) must study his work for their GCSE English Language qualification. This, in combination with his live acts, has led to him becoming increasingly popular with UK students.

Selected works

*"Shoot Me With Flowers" (1974) - his first published work, published in Guyana
*"Man to Pan" (1982) - Won the Casa de las Américas Prize in Cuba
*"Lend Me Your Wings" (1987) - Won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize (shortlist)
*"We Animals Would Like a Word With You" (1996) - Won the bronze Nestlé Smarties Book Prize in the "6-8 years" category in 1997he also wrote:
*"Half Caste (poem)"
*"From the Devil's Pulpit" (1997)
*"Wriggle Piggy Toes" (2006) - his most recent work.

External links

* [http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/places/johnagar.htm John Agard at the BBC]
*contemporary writers|id=162 (includes extensive bibliography)
* [http://www.nmm.ac.uk/library/2007/10/poet_in_residence.html] John Agard at the National Maritime Museum
* http://www.helium.com/items/947671-guyana-south-america-parents