Trinidadian-British poet, novelist and musician Anthony Joseph was awarded the prestigious T.S. Eliot Prize in 2022 for Sonnets for Albert. A series of elegies to his mostly absent father, it explores the wider edges of Caribbean masculinity, loss and longing, drawing praise from the judges as “a luminous collection which celebrates humanity in all its contradictions and breathes new life into this enduring form.” Hear from Anthony as he discusses his craft and career, spanning five poetry collections and three novels, in conversation with Felicity Plunkett.
Supported by the Jibb Foundation.
Anthony Joseph (International)
Dr Anthony Joseph is an award-winning Trinidad-born poet, novelist, academic and musician. He is the author of five poetry collections and three novels. His 2018 novel Kitch: A Fictional Biography of a Calypso Icon was shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize, the Royal Society of Literature's Encore Award, and longlisted for the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. His most recent publication is the experimental novel The Frequency of Magic. In 2019, he was awarded a Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellowship. As a musician, he has released eight critically acclaimed albums, and in 2020 received a Paul Hamblyn Foundation Composers Award. He is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at Kings College, London. His new collection Sonnets for Albert was shortlisted for the Forward Prize and won the 2022 T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry.
Felicity Plunkett (Australian)
Felicity is a poet and critic. Her books are A Kinder Sea (UQP), Vanishing Point (UQP) and the chapbook Seastrands (Vagabond). Felicity was University of Queensland Press Poetry Editor for a decade and edited Thirty Australian Poets (UQP). She has a PhD from Sydney University and is a widely-published reviewer and essayist. Felicity works as an editor and mentor developing other writers’ work, as well as with students and teachers. Her latest essay ‘Plath Traps’ is published by Sydney Review of Books.
