About John Agard
John Agard is an Afro-Guyanese poet, children's author and playwright, born in Guyana and who came to Britain in 1977. His books include Man to Pan (1982) winner of the Casa de las Americas Prize, Mangoes and Bullets: Selected and New Poems (1985), The Calypso Alphabet (Collins, 1990), The Monster Who Loved Cameras (1994), From the Devil's Pulpit (1997), Travel Light Travel Dark (Bloodaxe, 2013), and he has edited several children's poetry anthologies. He has been writing poetry since he was 16 and is praised for his entertaining and moving performances of his work. His best known poem is Half-Caste, a commentary on racial attitudes. It is studied by British school chidren for their GCSE exams.In 1997, he was awarded the Paul Hamlyn Award for Poetry and in 2012, he received the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. Some of his poems, including Half-Caste and Checking Out Me History, have been studied by UK students taking the GSCE since 2002. In 2021, he received the BookTrust Lifetime Achievement Award.
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