John Agard

John Agard
Born	21 June 1949 (1949-06-21) British Guyana
Occupation	playwright, poet and children's writer
Language	English
Ethnicity	Afro-Guyanese

John Agard (born 21 June 1949 in British Guyana) is an Afro-Guyanese 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. His father settled in London and Agard moved to the UK with his partner Grace Nichols in 1977, settling in Ironbridge, Shropshire. He worked for the Commonwealth Institute and the BBC in London. His awards include the Paul Hamlyn Award for Poetry in 1997 and the Cholmondeley Award in 2004. Agard was Poet-in-Residence at the National Maritime Museum in 2008. His poem Half Caste 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 Rye, East Sussex.

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) 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

• The Poetry Society 'John Agard: Making Waves at the BBC'
• John Agard at Contemporary Writers (includes extensive bibliography)
• John Agard at the National Maritime Museum
• An example of John Agard reading his poetry on YouTube - Listen Mr Oxford don