John Agard was born in Georgetown, Guyana. His love of language began in school where his favourite subjects were English, French and Latin. His collections include Half Caste (2005), We Brits (2006) Clever Backbone (2009), Alternative Anthem (2009) Travel Light Travel Dark (2013), Playing the Ghost of Maimonides (2016) and The Coming of the Little Green Man (2018), with Border Zone forthcoming in 2022. In 2012, he was awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry and in 2021 he became the first poet to win the Book Trust’s Lifetime Achievement Award.