Patience Agbabi

FRSL The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...

(born 1965) is a British poet and performer who emphasizes the spoken word.. Although her poetry hits hard in addressing contemporary themes, it often makes use of formal constraints, including traditional poetic forms. She has described herself as "bicultural" and

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

. Issues of racial and gender identity feature in her poetry. She is celebrated "for paying equal homage to literature and performance" and for work that "moves fluidly and nimbly between cultures, dialects, voices; between page and stage." In 2017 she was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...

Early life and education

Patience Agbabi was born in London to Nigerian parents. From a young age, she was privately fostered by a white English family and moved from

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

to North Wales at the age of 12, where Agbabi was then raised in Colwyn Bay. She studied English language and literature at

Pembroke College, Oxford Pembroke College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, is located at Pembroke Square, Oxford. The college was founded in 1624 by King James I of England, using in part the endowment of merchant Thomas Tesdale, and was named after ...

. She earned an MA in Creative Writing, the Arts and Education from the University of Sussex in 2002, and in September that year was appointed Associate Creative Writing Lecturer at the University of Wales, Cardiff.

Poetry and performances

Agbabi began performing on the London club circuit in 1995 as a member of the performance group Atomic Lip, which was once described as "poetry's first pop group." Their final tour occurred in 1998, titled "Quadrophonix," which mixed live and video performance in each show. In 1996, she worked on a performance piece called ''FO(U)R WOMEN'', with Adeola Agbebiyi and Dorothea Smartt, first performed at the Institute of Contemporary Arts and touring from 1995 to 1998. She has cited among her influences

Janis Joplin Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and musician. One of the most successful and widely known Rock music, rock stars of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and "electric" stage ...

, Carol Ann Duffy, Chaucer, and various aspects of contemporary music and culture. Agbabi's childhood love of cake is apparent in her poem "Eat Me". The poems in her first book ''R.A.W.'', published in 1995, focus on her experiences regarding Thatcherism, urban life, and racial and sexual politics. The style of these poems "owe much to the rhythms, verbal and associational genius of rap". Her next collection was ''Transformatrix'' (2000), a commentary on contemporary Britain that draws inspiration from popular music forms. "Transformatix" also contains Agbabi's first published adaptation of

Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He wa ...

's ''

The Canterbury Tales ''The Canterbury Tales'' ( enm, Tales of Caunterbury) is a collection of twenty-four stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. It is widely regarded as Chaucer's ''Masterpiece, ...

'', reimagining the Wife of Bath as the Nigerian "Mrs. Alice Ebi Bafa". In 2008, Agbabi published ''Bloodshot Monochrome'', a collection that, as described by one reviewer, highlights social and political issues, captures and considers moments in time through long-dead authors, and offers readers a diverse sampling of the author's views of life in a variety of places." Carol Rumens has said: "Agbabi characteristically makes poetry an opportunity for conversation with the past, not swamping it but setting new lexical terms." As Canterbury Laureate from July 2009 to December 2010, Agbabi received an Arts Council grant to write a full-length poetry collection based on

's ''

'',. The final product was published in 2014 as ''Telling Tales'', which retold each tale in the

Middle-English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...

work to offer a 21st-century take on the characters, its poetry and its performance elements. The reinterpretation used her critically acclaimed, lyrical poetic style to newly define British literary traditions. The book met with praise from poets including Simon Armitage, who described it as "the liveliest versions of Chaucer you're likely to read." Agbabi continues to tour ''Telling Tales'' as a performance-poetry production shown at literature festivals, arts spaces and libraries across the UK. She performed tales such as "The Wife of Bafa" or "Tit for Tat (Reeves's tale)". As well as performing in Britain, Agbabi undertook British Council reading tours of Namibia, the Czech Republic, Zimbabwe, Germany and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. She took part in ''Modern Love'', a spoken-word tour produced by Renaissance One, which explored love and modern relationships, touring the UK and Switzerland. Her poetry has featured on television and radio, including the Channel 4 series ''Litpop'' in 1998 and on the children's programme ''

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Tel ...

'' in 1999. She has also been a contributor to several anthologies, among them ''Jubilee Lines'' (2012), edited by Carol Ann Duffy, which marked Queen Elizabeth II's 60th anniversary on the throne, and ''Refugee Tales'' (2016), a collection of stories based on accounts by Gatwick airport detainees. She has taught and run workshops and also been poet-in-residence at various places, ranging from

Oxford Brookes University Oxford Brookes University (formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic (United Kingdom), Polytechnic) is a public university, public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and High ...

and Eton College to a London tattoo and piercing studio. In 2018 she was writer in residence at the Brontë Parsonage Museum.

Awards and recognition

In 1997, Agbabi's first poetry collection, ''R.A.W ''(1995), received the Excelle Literary Award. In 2000, she was one of 10 poets commissioned by BBC Radio 4 to write a poem for National Poetry Day. In 2004, she featured on the Poetry Book Society list of Next Generation poets. In 2010, Agbabi was appointed as the Canterbury Festival's Canterbury Poet Laureate. In March 2015, The Poetry Society announced Agbabi as one of five poets shortlisted for the 2014 Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry, for her book ''Telling Tales''. In 2017, Agbabi was elected as a Fellow of the

Selected works

*''R.A.W.'', Gecko Press (1995). *''Transformatrix'', Canongate Books (2000) *''Bloodshot Monochrome'', Canongate (2008) *''Telling Tales'', Canongate (2014) *''The Wife of Bafa'' (text); Analysis of ''The Wife of Bafa'' *''The Infinite,'' Canongate (2020)

Anthologies

* Carol Ann Duffy, ed., ''Jubilee Lines'' (London: Faber & Faber, 2012) * Sasha Dugdale, ed., ''Best British Poetry 2012'' (Cromer: Salt, 2012) *

Helen Ivory Helen Ivory (born 1969) is an English poet, artist, tutor, and editor. Career Ivory is a poet and visual artist. Her fifth Bloodaxe Books collection is ''The Anatomical Venus'' ( 2019), which centres on women and otherness. She has co-edited wit ...

, ed., ''In Their Own Words'' (Cromer: Salt, 2012) * Rob Pope, ed., ''Studying English Language and Literature: An Introduction and Companion'' (Oxford: Routledge, 2012) *

Tom Chivers Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

, ''Adventures in Form'' (London: Penned in the Margins, 2012) *''Refugee Tales'' (Manchester: Comma Press, 2016) *

Margaret Busby Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's youngest and first black female book publisherJazzmine Breary"Let' ...

, ed., '' New Daughters of Africa'' (

Myriad Editions Myriad Editions is an independent UK publishing house based in Brighton and Hove, specialising in topical atlases, graphic non-fiction and original fiction, whose output also encompasses graphic novels that span a variety of genres, including ...

, 2019)

References

External links

* *Patience Agbabi
''Telling Tales''
24 June 2015
Patience Agbabi
at GreenBelt
Reader comments on ''Bloodshot Monochrome''
Goodreads *Nisha Obano
"Patience Agbabi"
, Encyclopedia of Afro-European Studies
''Eat Me'' Poem Analysis and Commentary
Interpreture
Patience Agbabi
on BBC Radio 4 ''Front Row'' *Patience Agbabi readin
"1994 , Chunnel / Le Tunnel sous la Manche"
FaberBooks at SoundCloud. {{DEFAULTSORT:Agbabi, Patience Living people 1965 births 20th-century British poets 20th-century English women writers 21st-century British poets 21st-century English women writers Academics of the University of Wales Alumni of Pembroke College, Oxford Alumni of the University of Sussex Bisexual academics Bisexual women Bisexual writers Black British women writers English women poets English people of Nigerian descent Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature LGBT Black British people English LGBT poets