John Agard (born June 12, 1949) is a British, native Afro-Guianese, poet, playwright and children's bookwriter. biography
John Agard grew up in British Guiana. He developed his love for language by listening to cricket comments. In high school, he taught English, French and Latin, and wrote his first poetry when he was in the sixth grade. After graduating, he taught the languages he had studied. He worked in a local library. He also worked as a sub-editor and writer for the Guyana Sunday Chronicle. Agard's father moved to London and Agard followed him with his wife, Grace Nichols. They went to live in Ironbridge in Shropshire. He worked for the British BBC and for the Commonwealth Institute in London. He won many awards including the Paul Hamlyn Award for Poetry in 1997 and the Cholmondeley Award in 2004. Agard was also a poet in residence of the National Maritime Museum in 2008.
Today Agard lives in East Sussex.
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