Raymond Antrobus, British Council Guest Author

Raymond Antrobus FRSL was born in London, Hackney to an English mother and Jamaican father, he is the author of ‘Shapes & Disfigurements’ (Burning Eye, 2012) ‘To Sweeten Bitter‘ (Out-Spoken Press, 2017), ‘The Perseverance‘ (Penned In The Margins / Tin House, 2018) and ‘All The Names Given’ (Picador / Tin House, 2021).

In 2019 he became the first ever poet to be awarded the Rathbone Folio Prize for best work of literature in any genre. Other accolades include the Ted Hughes award, PBS Winter Choice, A Sunday Times Young Writer of the year award, Somerset Maugham award and The Guardian Poetry Book Of The Year 2018, as well as a shortlist for the Griffin Prize and Forward Prize.

He is also one of the world’s first recipients of an MA in Spoken Word education from Goldsmiths University. His poems have been published in POETRY, Poetry Review, Lit Hub, News Statesman, The Deaf Poets Society, among others. Raymond also writes for young readers. His debut children’s picture book ‘Can Bears Ski?’ is illustrated by Polly Dunbar and is published in the UK by Walker Books (2021) and in the US/Canada by Candle Wick Press (2020). It was selected as a Ezra Jack Keats honoree winner in 2021.