John Agard on TV & Radio
‘... if Agard had not already been forged in the roller-coaster aftermath of empire, there would be an urgent need for society to invent someone like him.’ – William Wallis, Financial Times Magazine
Poet, performer, anthologist, John Agard was born in Guyana and came to Britain in 1977. His many books include nine from Bloodaxe, most recently The Coming of the Little Green Man (2018), with his ninth collection Border Zone published in April 2022.
John Agard was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry for 2012 for his Bloodaxe retrospective Alternative Anthem: Selected Poems (2009, with DVD), which includes some of his poetry for children along with a selection of his poetry for adults. In November 2021 John Agard became the first poet to win BookTrust's Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to children's literature.
JOHN AGARD ON ITV NEWS AT TEN
ITV News at Ten, Friday 21 October 2022, 10pm
John Agard was on the ITV News at Ten on 21 October 2022. There was a segment on him and rapper Loyle Carner in a school talking about and reading from John’s poem ‘Half-caste’, which features in Loyle Carner’s song ‘Georgetown’ from his new album Hugo. Loyle and John worked together on this song, using the lyrics of ‘Half-caste’. John features prominently in the music video for ‘Georgetown’, clips from which were also played.
Presenter Rageh Omaar introduced the piece:
‘Finally, some of you may be familiar with a powerful poem called ‘Half-caste’, which vividly speaks out against the attitudes and prejudices faced by people of mixed race. It often forms part of the English curriculum in schools. Now its author, John Agard, has teamed up with acclaimed musician Loyle Carner on a new song, and they’ve been talking about its message to school students.’
‘Half-caste’ is one of the poems for young people included in John Agard’s 2009 retrospective Alternative Anthem: Selected Poems, and is also included on the accompanying DVD.
ITV News at Ten is not available on ITV Hub, but is on YouTube. Intro & from 26:13. Watch here.
Loyle Carner’s music video for ‘Georgetown’ features John Agard reading extracts from 'Half-caste'.
Watch on YouTube here.
REVIEW COVERAGE FOR BORDER ZONE
Times Literary Supplement, Friday 4 November 2022
John Agard’s Border Zone, his ninth book of poetry from Bloodaxe, was very well reviewed in the TLS of 4 November 2022. Fred D’Aguiar beings his piece with a paragraph about the renaissance of Black poetry in print in the UK that took place from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s, with ‘memorable work’ published by poets including James Berry, Grace Nichols and Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze. The review included an extract from the poem ‘We Mosquitos’ from Border Zone.
‘John Agard’s satirical poetry, driven by affection for his country rather than easy disdain, has always taken serious comic aim at prejudiced authority. Agard received the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2012, but he is nonetheless a poet of the people; or, better still, the nation’s jester, speaking truth to power in many registers. Border Zone, his most recent collection of poems, opens with eighty-six seven-line stanzas of varying rhyme schemes… about the Windrush generation… to read Agard is always to be reminded of the idea of poetry as song.’ – Fred D’Aguiar, Times Literary Supplement
Available in full by subscription, but almost all of the Border Zone review can be seen via the link below – just a final quote from the book is missing.
In print, or read via the TLS website here.
New Statesman, Friday 13 May 2022
John Agard’s Border Zone was well reviewed in the New Statesman’s ‘Reviewed in short’ feature of 13 May 2022.
‘John Agard’s poetry is generous with its pleasures. His wit and playfulness are on full display in Border Zone, a title that could encompass the Guyanese-British poet’s five decades of writing about the margins of Englishness… Agard approaches all his subjects, and forms, with a keen awareness of history.’ – Matthew Gilley, New Statesman
In print and online in full by subscription on the NS website here. Register to read a few articles for free.
ONLINE POEM FEATURE
Bookanista, online 28 April 2022
Two poems from Border Zone, John Agard’s ninth book of poetry from Bloodaxe, were featured on Bookanista to mark publication on 28 April 2022. The poems were ‘Flag Speaks’ and ‘Wall Speaks’.
John Agard gave a brilliant reading of the poem 'Flag Speaks' on BBC Radio 3's The Verb in September 2021. Details below.
The feature is on Bookanista's website here.
RADIO 3 INTERVIEW WITH JOHN AGARD
The Verb: Live from Contains Strong Language, Friday 24 September 2021, 10pm
John Agard took part in a special live edition of Radio 3’s The Verb broadcast from the Belgrade Theatre Coventry as part of the BBC’s Contains Strong Language Festival. He read a tender poem in response to the death of his mother in 2015, 'A Mariner of Any Kind', along with another new poem, 'Flag Speaks' (from his 2022 collection Border Zone).
John's most recent collection is The Coming of the Little Green Man. His next collection Border Zone is published by Bloodaxe in April 2022.
‘This year the Contains Strong Language festival of poetry and performance is in the 2021 City of Culture, Coventry. Ian McMillan is broadcasting live from the Belgrade Theatre, joined by some of the festival guests. Loyle Carner is a Mercury Prize-nominated musician who will be performing his poetry. We celebrate the poetic links between Guyana and Britain with the poet John Agard. Former Birmingham Laureate Roy McFarlane on his work specially commissioned for Contains Strong Language as well as poetry about Coventry's musical heritage..’
Listen here. John Agard features from 09:18. He reads 'Flag Speaks' from 17:08.
[16 May 2022]
