{"title":"John Agard","description":"\u003cp\u003ePoet, performer, anthologist, John Agard was born in Guyana and came to Britain in 1977. He won the Casa de las Américas Prize in 1982, and a Paul Hamlyn Award in 1997. He was writer-in-residence with the BBC in 1998, working with the Windrush Project, and writer-in-residence at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich in 2007.   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHis books include five collections from Bloodaxe, \u003cem\u003eFrom the Devil’s Pulpit\u003c\/em\u003e (1997), \u003cem\u003eWeblines\u003c\/em\u003e (2000), and \u003cem\u003eWe Brits\u003c\/em\u003e (2006), which was shortlisted for the 2007 Decibel Writer of the Year Award; and \u003cem\u003eAlternative Anthem: Selected Poems\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eClever Backbone\u003c\/em\u003e, published simultaneously in 2009. His anthology \u003cem\u003eHello New\u003c\/em\u003e (2000), published by Orchard Books, was chosen by the Poetry Society as its Children’s Poetry Bookshelf Best Anthology. He won the CLPE Poetry Award 2009 for \u003cem\u003eThe Young Inferno\u003c\/em\u003e (Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2008). He lives in Lewes, East Sussex.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJohn Agard performs the title-poem from Alternative Anthem at Soho Theatre in London:  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \r\n\u003cobject width=\"425\" height=\"350\" data=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/YbhJJIJJXXU\" type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\"\u003e\r\n\u003cparam name=\"data\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/YbhJJIJJXXU\"\u003e\r\n\u003cparam name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/YbhJJIJJXXU\"\u003e\r\n\u003c\/object\u003e\r\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA second excerpt from the Alternative Anthem DVD-book (2009). John Agard and fellow Guyanan Keith Waithe perform 'Flute Boy', a piece specially written by Agard for his flute maestro friend. Then Waithe accompanies Agard's performance of his poem 'Marriage of Opposites'. Finally, the third poem in this excerpt is Agard's much celebrated 'Half-caste', now on the syllabus in many English schools. This live performance by Agard and Waithe was filmed at Havant Arts Centre in 2008: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \r\n\u003cobject width=\"425\" height=\"350\" data=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/Fazdum1hm3g\" type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\"\u003e\r\n\u003cparam name=\"data\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/Fazdum1hm3g\"\u003e\r\n\u003cparam name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/Fazdum1hm3g\"\u003e\r\n\u003c\/object\u003e\r\n\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"red-contemporary-black-british-poetry","title":"Red: Contemporary Black British Poetry","description":"\u003ci\u003eRed\u003c\/i\u003e is a powerful new anthology of work by Black British poets.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Perhaps the most significant thing to be said about \u003ci\u003eRed\u003c\/i\u003e is that the poets in this volume burst through any constraining label with writing that throbs and pulses and seeps and flows.\" \u003cbr\u003eMargaret Busby\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eRed\u003c\/i\u003e collects poems that engage 'red', poems by Black British poets writing with the word 'red' in mind—as a kind of leap-off point, a context, a germ—the way something small, minor, or grand might spur a poem. It offers the reader the freedom to come to whatever conclusions they want to about what writing as a poet who is also Black and British might mean.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe result is a book of poets ranging from well-established and published writers to first time poets. \u003ci\u003eRed\u003c\/i\u003e does find its usual associations with blood, violence, passion, and anger. Sometimes it is linked with sensuality and sexuality. But there are surprises, when red defines a memory or mood, the quality of light in a sky, the colour of skin, the sound of a song, and much, much more. The anthology, therefore, succeeds in producing poems that seem to be first about image, and only then about whatever else fascinates the poet.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this sense, \u003ci\u003eRed\u003c\/i\u003e is a different kind of anthology of Black British writing, and the richness of the entries, the moods, the humour, the passion, the reflection, the confessional all confirm that Black British poetry is a lively and defining force in Britain today.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEditor Kwame Dawes is a poet, novelist, playwright and critic. His work as an organiser and deliverer of poetry workshops has been hailed in many parts of the world, not least in the UK, USA and Jamaica, where he has been the Literary programmer of the Calabash International Literature Festival for the past ten years. His work as an editor received wide praise for \u003ci\u003eWheel and Come Again: An Anthology of Reggae Poetry\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eRed\u003c\/i\u003e is published by Inscribe, an imprint of Peepal Tree. The Inscribe Series Editor is Kadija Sesay.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eKwame Dawes\u003c\/b\u003e is widely acknowledged as the foremost Caribbean poet of the post-Walcott generation. He currently holds the position of Distinguished Poet In Residence and Louise Fry Scudder Professor of Liberal Arts at the University of South Carolina.","brand":"Peepal Tree Press","offers":[{"title":"Book","offer_id":1041100660,"sku":"9781845231293","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0441\/7369\/products\/2_2_58dc73c3-5255-4b26-8256-25d89c3a0037.jpeg?v=1752237646"},{"product_id":"coyotes-a-poem-for-our-planet","title":"Coyotes : A Poem For Our Planet","description":"\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eExcitement spreads like bushfire through the jungle. Earth-goddesses are planning a conference! From Australia to Antarctica, the Amazon to Africa, goddesses will debate the burning environmental issues of our times...and bushy-tailed, smooth-talking Coyote wants in on the action! Can this infamous trickster come up with a plan to infiltrate the conference and leave a lasting legacy for our planet? A rip-roaring poem by a master poet, inspired by Earth Day.\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"Lantana Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":39521739374670,"sku":"9781911373735","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0441\/7369\/products\/Coyote_sSoundbite.jpg?v=1752241229"},{"product_id":"inspector-dreadlock-holmes-and-other-stories","title":"Inspector Dreadlock Holmes and Other Stories","description":"\u003cp\u003eTongue-in-cheek short stories that send up imperial myths.   In the title story, Inspector Dreadlock Holmes and his sidekick Rudeyard Fly \u003cbr\u003e\nare sent for by the Criminal Investigation Department of Middleham-by-Sea –\u003cbr\u003e\na little town known for tea shops, pet shops, florist shops. Keen to kickstart their diversity policy, the \u003cbr\u003e\nDepartment sends for two black law enforcers who both think this an \u003cbr\u003e\nopportunity too good to miss: a chance to prove their cross-cultural mettle and \u003cbr\u003e\nelucidate the death of Lord Montagu, a controversial political figure possibly \u003cbr\u003e\nkilled by a deadly vegetable.   In other stories, an Anansi spider stows away on the Windrush, cod and chips \u003cbr\u003e\nare usurped by chicken tikka marsala, and a white landscape gardener who \u003cbr\u003e\nadmires Capability Brown has a mixed race child who is \u003cbr\u003e\ndispossessed by voices from history, including that of Martin Luther King.   Surreal and playful, John Agard’s stories also reveal hidden truths that subtly \u003cbr\u003e\nchange our view of how we are and where we come from.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Hope Road","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":39711591366734,"sku":"9781913109875","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0441\/7369\/products\/original_7006ff03-2e1f-4042-92b8-f2c7a5417521.jpg?v=1752240765"}],"url":"https:\/\/inpressbooks.co.uk\/collections\/john-agard\/gemma-weekes.oembed","provider":"Inpress Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}