Yesterday March 12, Guyanese born British poet John Agard was presented with the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry at Buckingham Palace.
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| Queen Elizabeth 11 with poet John Agard |
Pictures in the Daily Mail showed the Queen sharing a laugh with John Agard, as she presented him with the honour . What was amusing them both was the back of the medal which has an image of a naked woman.
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| Reverse of Poetry Gold Medal |
Both the Queen and Mr Agard, 63, who writes for adults and children, were amused. .
One of the most highly regarded British poets , Agard has won many awards. The Gold Medal award was first instituted in 1933 by King George V, and the recipient is chosen by a committee chaired by the Poet Laureate. Previous winners include Stevie Smith, Ted Hughes, Norman MacCaig and Derek Walcott ( the only Black writer before Agard) – a cross-section of poets that Agard describes as “good company”.
Agard is receiving the award for two works – his children’s book Goldilocks on CCTV and his anthology Alternative Anthem . Goldilocks on CCTV takes the fairytale characters and gives them a modern, subversive twist. There is a feisty damsel in distress, a Cinderella who wants a motorbike and a host of “bad” characters, like the ugly sisters, the wolf and the beast, who tell their side of the story.
Though he is touched by the honour, for Agard a medal from the Queen means as much as, for example, the letter of congratulations he recently received from his old sixth-form teacher, or the support of friends in Lewes, Sussex where he now lives. His former teacher.N. D. ( Wyck) Williams is also a writer who won the first Casas de las Americas award to a writer in English for his novel Ikael Torass in 1976. John also won this award in 1982 for his collection of poems Man to Pan.
Milton Drepaul who was one of the members of the Expression Group which supported Agard and other young aspiring writers in the period 1965-1970 recalls, ' John and his then close friend Terrence Roberts spent many hours at my home reading and debating ideas. My wife Marjeiry encouraged their visits by cooking roti and black pudding. In return they kept us laughing with their satiric interpretations of daily events. I am impressed that John has continued to reach out to children and other non traditional audiences."
The Expression group of writers and painters has contributed much to the world creative scene. Jan Lo Shinebourne is the winner of a Guyana Prize and author of four books: Brian Chan is also a Guyana Prize winner as well as a Canadian Winner;Victor Davson is a New Jersey based painter His work is in the permanent collections of the Newark Museum, The Montclair Art Museum, the New Jersey State Museum, and the National Collection of Fine Arts, Guyana; Mark McWatt is a Guyana Prize winner and Commonwealth Prize winner; Terrence Roberts is a Canadian Award winner and is represented in the Guyana National Art Gallery.
Agard and his wife, the poet Grace Nichols came to the UK in 1977 to continue their dream of becoming international writers. In his interview in the Daily Telegraph he describes feeling the pull of the mother country as a result of a childhood spent studying Chaucer and Shakespeare. It was a strong connection he says, “despite the conflicts and brutalities of the past”. He has spent more time living in Britain than his native homeland, yet he is still heavily influenced by his upbringing in Guyana. As a result, he says continents fill his head space and inspire his creativity.
Agard is best known to generations of British schoolchildren for his poem Half-Caste as it featured on the GCSE syllabus for many years. The poem cleverly challenges the reader to consider the term “half-caste” and its associations with inferiority: “Consequently when I dream / I dream half-a-dream / an when moon begin to glow / I half-caste human being / cast half-a-shadow”.
This theme of identity is a powerful presence in Agard’s poetry.
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