Patience Agbabi

Patience Agbabi

Patience Agbabi (born 1965) is a British poet and performer with a particular emphasis on the spoken word. [ [http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth163 Patience Agbabi ] ] Although her poetry is hard-hitting in addressing contemporary themes, her work often makes use of strong formal constraints, including traditional poetic forms. She has described herself as 'bi-cultural' and bisexualcitation |title=Giving the Boys at Eton Poetry to Think About |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/05/arts/05poet.html?_r=1 |periodical=New York Times |first=Victoria |last=Young |date=March 5, 2005 |accessdate=2008-04-01 ] , and issues of racial, sexual, and gender identity are important in her poetry.

Early life

Agbabi was born in London and as a teenager lived in North Wales. Her parents were Nigerian. She studied English Language and Literature at Pembroke College, Oxford.

Agbabi began performing on the London club circuit in 1995. She has cited her influences as including Janis Joplin, Carol Ann Duffy, Chaucer, and various aspects of contemporary music and culture.

Poetry and performances

Agbabi's first collection of poetry, "R.A.W", was published in 1995 and received the Excelle Literary Award in 1997.

She has performed extensively and also worked in collaboration with other writers. Her work has also been influenced by rap rhythms and wordplay. She was a member of Atomic Lip, which has been described as "poetry's first pop group". They worked together from 1995 to 1998 and their last tour, Quadrophonix, in 1998 merged live and video performance. In 1996 she worked on a performance piece called FO(U)R WOMEN, with Adeola Agbebiyi and Dorothea Smartt, first performed at the Institute of Contemporary Arts.

As well as performing in Britain she has also undertaken reading tours of Namibia, the Czech Republic, Zimbabwe, Germany and Switzerland, working with the British Council. She took part in Modern Love, a spoken word event exploring love and modern relationships, which toured the UK and Switzerland.

Her poetry has been featured on television and radio, including the Channel 4 series Litpop in 1998 and on the children's programme Blue Peter in 1999. In 2000, she was one of ten poets commissioned by BBC Radio 4 to write a poem for National Poetry Day.

Her most recent book, "Transformatrix", was published in 2000 and is a commentary on contemporary Britain which draws inspiration from popular music forms. Her current work in progress is called Body Language.

Agabi has taught and run workshops and also been poet in residence at various places ranging from Oxford Brookes University to a London tattoo and piercing studio. She has an MA in Creative Writing, the Arts and Education from the University of Sussex and in September, 2002 was appointed Associate Creative Writing Lecturer at the University of Wales, Cardiff.

In 2004, she was named as one of the Next Generation poets.

References

External links

*contemporary writers|id=163


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Agbabi, Patience — (1965 )    Agbabi, one of the Next Generation poets, was born in London to Nigerian parents and fostered from birth by a white family. She lived in Sussex and North Wales and graduated from Oxford University. In her debut poetry collection, R A W …   British and Irish poets

  • List of poets — This is a list of poets. It lists notable poets. Alphabetical listcompactTOC NOTOC A Ab Ak*Dannie Abse (born 1923), English poet *Milton Acorn (1923 ndash;1986), Canadian poet, writer, and playwright *Léonie Adams (1899 ndash;1988), American poet …   Wikipedia

  • Pembroke College, Oxford — Oxford College Infobox name = Pembroke College university = Oxford shield = picture = colours = name Latin = Collegium Pembrochianum named for = The Earl of Pembroke established = 1624 sister college = Queens College head name = Master head =… …   Wikipedia

  • 1965 in literature — The year 1965 in literature involved some significant events and new books.Events* Frank Herbert s Dune wins the first ever Nebula AwardNew books*Lloyd Alexander The Black Cauldron *J. G. Ballard The Drought *Ray Bradbury The Vintage Bradbury… …   Wikipedia

  • Next Generation poets (2004) — The Next Generation poets are a list of young and middle aged figures from British poetry, mostly British, compiled by a panel for the Poetry Book Society in 2004. This is a promotional exercise, and a sequel to the New Generation poets. The Next …   Wikipedia

  • Ruth Padel — Ruth Sophia Padel (born 8 May 1946) is a British classical scholar, poet and journalist. She came to prominence with a poetry column in the London Independent on Sunday , of close readings of contemporary poems; the book 52 Ways of Looking at a… …   Wikipedia

  • 1965 in poetry — yearbox2 in?=in poetry in2?=in literature cp=19th century c=20th century cf=21st century yp1=1962 yp2=1963 yp3=1964 year=1965 ya1=1966 ya2=1967 ya3=1968 dp3=1930s dp2=1940s dp1=1950s d=1960s da=0 dn1=1970s dn2=1980s dn3=1990s|Events* Meic… …   Wikipedia

  • Raman Mundair — is a British poet, writer, artist and playwright. She was born in Ludhiana, India and came to live in the UK at the age of fiveHer poetry has been featured in Acumen, Poetry Scotland, Kavya Bharati and widely anthologized. She is the author of… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Nigerian Britons — This is a list of notable (Nigerian Britons), i.e. British citizens or non citizen immigrants to the United Kingdom of full or partial Nigerian descent, whether British born or not. Film and Television*Razaaq Adoti, actor, screenwriter, producer… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”