Roger Robinson (poet)
Roger Robinson is an award-winning writer, musician and performer who lives between England and Trinidad.[1] He describes himself as "a British resident with a Trini sensibility".[2] He was chosen by arts organisation Decibel as one of 50 writers who have influenced black-British writing over the past 50 years.[1][2] He was a spoken-word performer in London in the early 1990s, before branching out to start performing poetry with bands he would meet, including Techno Animal, Flytronix, The Bugz, Attica Blues and Speeka.[3] Robinson is the lead vocalist for musical crossover project King Midas Sound, whose critically acclaimed debut album Waiting for You was released on Hyperdub Records,[4][5] becoming number 10 in the top 50 releases of 2009 in Wire Magazine.[6]
Biography
Robinson was born in Hackney, London, and at the age of four went with his parents to live in Trinidad, returning to England when he was 19[7] in the 1980s.[8]
Robinson has toured extensively with the British Council, travelling to Vietnam, the Philippines, Argentina, Bulgaria, Greece, India, the Czech Republic and Mozambique, among other places.[8] As well as performing, he has led workshops and lectured on poetry and performance.[1] His one-man shows The Shadow Boxer, Letter from My Father's Brother and Prohibition all premiered at the British Festival of Visual Theatre at Battersea Arts Centre.[1] Until 2000, Robinson was programme co-ordinator of the performance poetry organisation Apples and Snakes. In 1999 he was one of 30 poets chosen for the New Generation Poets collection at the National Portrait Gallery, London.[1]
Commissions he has received include from Theatre Royal Stratford East, the National Trust, London Open House, the National Portrait Gallery, LIFT and the Tate. His workshops have been a part of a shortlist for the Gulbenkian Prize for Museums and Galleries and were also a part of the Webby Award-winning Barbican Centre's Can I Have A Word.[9]
In 2010 his poetry collection Suckle won the People's Book Prize.[4][8] His 2013 collection The Butterfly Hotel was one of three poetry titles shortlisted for the 2014 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature.[10]
His solo album of spoken folk, illclectica, was released on Altered Vibes records in 2004;[1] it was named by Mojo Magazine as "number eight in the top 10 electronic albums for that year.[11] In 2015 he released Dis Side Ah Town, which has been described as "an album that lyrically recalls the most incisive and suggestive lyricists in dub and roots reggae".[12]
Bibliography
- Suckle (poetry), Waterways Books, 2009. ISBN 978-190-523-3212
- Suitcase (poetry), Waterways Publishing, 2004.
- Adventures in 3D (short fiction), Lubin & Kleyner, 2001.
- The Butterfly Hotel (poetry), Peepal Tree PressFbri, 2013. ISBN 978-1845232191
Albums
- illclectica (Altered Vibes, 2004)
- Dis Side Ah Town (2015)
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Roger Robinson" page at Literature, British Council.
- 1 2 Davina Morris, "Trini poet Roger Robinson", Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, 17 August 2009.
- ↑ "Roger Robinson", Westbury Music.
- 1 2 "Roger Robinson", Book Slam.
- ↑ "King Midas Sound", Festival Searcher.
- ↑ "About", Roger Robinson.
- ↑ "Roger Robinson - biography", Meet the Poets, Barbican.
- 1 2 3 "Roger Robinson - a writer and performer who lives between London and Trinidad", ItzCaribbean.com.
- ↑ "Can I Have a Word?", Barbican.
- ↑ "Ten writers vie for the 2014 OCM Bocas Prize", Bocas Lit Fest, 25 February 2013.
- ↑ Poets and Tutors, The Complete Works II.
- ↑ Neil Kulkarni, "Reading The Riot Act: Roger Robinson Interviewed", The Quietus, 13 July 2015.
External links
- Roger Robinson website.
- Roger Robinson Books.
- Philip Nanton, "Homestyle" (review of Suckle), Caribbean Review of Books, September 2010.
- "The Butterfly Hotel - video by Roger Robinson".