Best known for his collections of Caribbean poetry, John is also a well-known writer, anthologist and performer of poetry for children and adults. He was born in Guyana and came to Britain in 1977. He has won many prizes, including the Smarties Book Prize and the Queen’s Gold Medal and in 2021 was awarded the prestigious BookTrust Lifetime Achievement Award for an outstanding contribution to children's literature. John is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and his work appears in an AQA anthology for GCSE English Literature. He is the author of the Carnegie-longlisted My Name Is Book and John Agard's Windrush Child.
