Roger Robinson wins the TS Eliot prize for his collection A Portable Paradise.
British-Trinidadian poet Roger Robinson has won the prestigious TS Eliot prize. This is the first time Robinson, “a long-time performer of dub poetry—a form of spoken word with West Indian roots,” has been nominated for the prize, which carries with it a £25,000 purse. John Burnside, the chair of the judges, said that Robinson was the unanimous choice.
A Portable Paradise, published by the small indie Peepal Tree Press, deals with “racism [and] violence… as well as moments of joy and beauty,” and includes a series of poems that reflect on the Grenfell Tower fire.
[via The Guardian]
Jessie Gaynor
Jessie Gaynor is a senior editor at Lit Hub whose writing has appeared in McSweeney's, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and elsewhere. Her debut novel, The Glow was published by Random House in 2023. You can buy it here.
