Daljit Nagra was born and brought up in West London and Sheffield. He lives in London, and works as a secondary school English teacher.
In 2003, he won the Smith/Doorstop pamphlet competition with Oh my Rub!, a Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice which was chosen as one of the Guardian's Poetry Books of the Year.
In 2004, his poem Look We Have Coming to Dover! won the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem, and this became the title of his first collection, published by Faber & Faber in 2007. It went on to win the 2007 Forward Poetry Prize for Best First Collection and the 2008 Arts Council England Decibel Award. It relates to the experience of British-born Indians, and often employs 'Punglish' - English spoken by Indian Punjabi immigrants. Look We Have Coming to Dover! was shortlisted for several further awards, including the 2007 Costa Poetry Award, and the 2007 Jerwood Aldeburgh First Collection Prize. His Ramayana: a retelling (Faber, 2013) was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize.
Daljit Nagra co-edited the Spread the Word anthology Ten (Bloodaxe Books, 2010) with Bernardine Evaristo. Selections of his own poems are included in The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets, edited by Jeet Thayil (Bloodaxe Books, 2008), and Identity Parade: New British & Irish Poets, edited by Roddy Lumsden (Bloodaxe Books, 2010).
