Canterbury Laureate

Canterbury Laureate for 2009-10, Patience Agbabi

Patience Agbabi is a dynamic poet who has performed her work all over the world. She has worked extensively abroad with the British Council in venues as diverse as a tent in Zimbabwe International Book Fair and a metro station in Prague.

In the UK her work has featured on National Radio and TV. In 2008 she presented 'Blood, Sweat, Tears and Poetry' for Radio 4 on National Poetry Day, which was recently repeated. She has been poet-in-residence at several venues including the Poetry Cafe (1999), Flamin' Eight - a tattoo and piercing studio in North London (2000)  and Eton College (2005). The latter two generated a lot of press.

Patience has also lectured in Creative Writing at several UK universities, most recently the University of Kent at Canterbury (2004-2005). She is currently a Fellow in Creative Writing at Oxford Brookes University.

She has published three poetry collections, R.A.W. (Gecko Press, 1995), Transformatrix (Canongate, 2000) and Bloodshot Monochrome (Canongate, 2008). In 2004, Patience Agbabi was nominated one of the UK's Next Generation Poets. Her work can be heard online at http://www.57productions.com.

A dedicated Chaucer fan, she's looking forward to creating new work inspired by The Canterbury Tales.

One of Patience's earlier works, The Wife of Bafa is a 20th century reimagining of The Wife of Bath. You can read the poem and Patience's accompanying analysis and find out what writers inspire Patience.

Laureate squad

This year the Canterbury Laureate will be supported by a newly-appointed Laureate Squad of four aclaimed local writers.