Anthony Anaxagorou FRSL is a British-born Cypriot poet, writer, publisher and educator.
Anthony Anaxagorou | |
|---|---|
 Anaxagorou in 2010 | |
| Born | March 1983 (age 41) London, England, UK |
| Occupation | Poet, writer, educator |
| Nationality | British |
| Notable awards | Mayor of London's Poetry Slam, 2002 Groucho Maverick Award, 2015 Ondaatje Prize, 2023 |
| Website | |
| anthonyanaxagorou | |
Early life
editAnthony Anaxagorou is of Cypriot origin.[1] His mother is from Nicosia and his father from Famagusta.[2] Anaxagorou grew up in North London and attended Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet.[3]
Literary Career
editIn 2002, Anaxagorou won the inaugural Mayor of London's Respect Poetry Slam[4] (now known as SLAMbassadors UK, the national youth slam championship[5]). In 2003, he appeared alongside fellow poet Kae Tempest on Young Nation, presented by Richard Blackwood, where he performed a number of poems themed around social issues relating to young people.[6] After an extended break from poetry, Anaxagorou began self-publishing in 2008. In 2010, he toured the UK supporting MOBO-winning artist Akala on the DoubleThink tour.
In 2015, Anaxagorou was awarded the 2015 Groucho Maverick Award[7] for his poetry and fiction.
His second poetry collection, After the Formalities (Penned in the Margins, 2019), was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize 2019.[8] The collection was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation[9] and was a Guardian poetry book of the year.[10] In 2019, he was made an honorary lecturer of the University of Roehampton.[11]
In 2020, he published How To... Write It with Merky Books, a practical guide combining writing advice, craft and memoir.[12][13][14]
His poetry collection Heritage Aesthetics won the 2023 Ondaatje Prize.[15]
In 2023 Anaxagorou was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.[16][17]
Out-Spoken and Out-Spoken Press
editIn 2012, Anaxagorou founded Out-Spoken, a monthly poetry and live music night,[18] where he remains Artistic Director. In 2019, Out-Spoken started a long-term residency at London's Southbank Centre.[19] In 2015, he founded Out-Spoken Press, an independent publisher of poetry and critical writing that has published titles from authors including Raymond Antrobus, Sabrina Mahfouz, Fran Lock, Mukahang Limbu and Richard Georges.[20] The press has awarded an annual Out-Spoken Prize for Poetry since 2015. There are winners in several categories (in 2023 these were "Page poetry", "Poetry in film" and "Performance poetry"), and an overall winner.[21]
Literary works
edit- A Difficult Place To Be Human – 2012[22]
- The Blink That Killed The Eye (Jacaranda, 2014)[23]
- It Will Come To You EP - 2013[24]
- Heterogeneous: New and Selected Poems (Out-Spoken Press, 2016)[25]
- After the Formalities (Penned in the Margins, 2019)[26]
- How To... Write It (Merky Books, 2020)[27]
- Heritage Aesthetics (Granta Poetry, 2022)
References
edit- ^ Anaxagorou, Anthony (1 April 2016). "Among A Race Of Others: An Overview Of Western Racial Classification And Colourism". Media Diversified. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
- ^ "Lobby for Cyprus - Our Work - Statements". Lobby for Cyprus. Archived from the original on 10 July 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
- ^ "Queen Elizabeth's School - New & Noteworthy". www.qebarnet.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2 January 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
- ^ "Anthony Anaxagorou – SLAMbassadors". Retrieved 8 February 2021.
- ^ "SLAMbassadors". Retrieved 8 February 2021.
- ^ "elbo.ws". Archived from the original on 23 July 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
- ^ "The Groucho Maverick Awards Nomination". Groucho Club. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
- ^ "TS Eliot prize unveils shortlist of 'fearless poets'". The Guardian. 17 October 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
- ^ "Autumn Elections 2019". The Poetry Book Society. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
- ^ "Best poetry of 2019". The Guardian. 30 November 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
- ^ Roehampton, University of (18 February 2019). "Anthony Anaxagorou | In Conversation". University of Roehampton Blog. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
- ^ Anaxagorou, Anthony (15 October 2020). How to... write it: work with words. London. ISBN 978-1-5291-1879-7. OCLC 1180202677.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ "#Merky Books". www.penguin.co.uk. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
- ^ "Stormzy's #Merky Books to launch 'How To' series on activism, writing and other topics". Sky News. 22 May 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
- ^ Creamer, Ella (10 May 2023). "Anthony Anaxagorou wins Ondaatje prize for collection of postcolonial poetry". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
- ^ Creamer, Ella (12 July 2023). "Royal Society of Literature aims to broaden representation as it announces 62 new fellows". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
- ^ Stenhouse, Martha (12 July 2023). "New Fellows and Election Process Announced". Royal Society of Literature. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
- ^ Noor, Poppy (12 August 2018). "On my radar: Madani Younis's cultural highlights". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
- ^ "Out-Spoken". www.southbankcentre.co.uk. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
- ^ "Books". Out-Spoken. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
- ^ "Prize for Poetry 2023". Out-Spoken. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
- ^ "Anthony Anaxagorou — A Difficult Place To Be Human". anthonyanaxagorou.com. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
- ^ "The Blink That Killed The Eye". Jacaranda Books. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
- ^ "Anthony Anaxagorou — It Will Come To You EP". anthonyanaxagorou.com. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
- ^ Heterogeneous. ASIN 0993103839.
- ^ Mennis, Katie (2019), "Review | After the Formalities by Anthony Anaxagorou", The London Magazine.
- ^ "How to Write It".