Anthony Anaxagorou FRSL is a British-born Cypriot poet, writer, publisher and educator.

Anthony Anaxagorou

Anaxagorou in 2010
Anaxagorou in 2010
BornMarch 1983 (age 41)
London, England, UK
OccupationPoet, writer, educator
NationalityBritish
Notable awardsMayor of London's Poetry Slam, 2002
Groucho Maverick Award, 2015
Ondaatje Prize, 2023
Website
anthonyanaxagorou.com

Early life

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Anthony 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

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In 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

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In 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

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  • 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

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  1. ^ Anaxagorou, Anthony (1 April 2016). "Among A Race Of Others: An Overview Of Western Racial Classification And Colourism". Media Diversified. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
  2. ^ "Lobby for Cyprus - Our Work - Statements". Lobby for Cyprus. Archived from the original on 10 July 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  3. ^ "Queen Elizabeth's School - New & Noteworthy". www.qebarnet.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2 January 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
  4. ^ "Anthony Anaxagorou – SLAMbassadors". Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  5. ^ "SLAMbassadors". Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  6. ^ "elbo.ws". Archived from the original on 23 July 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  7. ^ "The Groucho Maverick Awards Nomination". Groucho Club. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  8. ^ "TS Eliot prize unveils shortlist of 'fearless poets'". The Guardian. 17 October 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  9. ^ "Autumn Elections 2019". The Poetry Book Society. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  10. ^ "Best poetry of 2019". The Guardian. 30 November 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  11. ^ Roehampton, University of (18 February 2019). "Anthony Anaxagorou | In Conversation". University of Roehampton Blog. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  12. ^ 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)
  13. ^ "#Merky Books". www.penguin.co.uk. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  14. ^ "Stormzy's #Merky Books to launch 'How To' series on activism, writing and other topics". Sky News. 22 May 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  15. ^ Creamer, Ella (10 May 2023). "Anthony Anaxagorou wins Ondaatje prize for collection of postcolonial poetry". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  16. ^ 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.
  17. ^ Stenhouse, Martha (12 July 2023). "New Fellows and Election Process Announced". Royal Society of Literature. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
  18. ^ Noor, Poppy (12 August 2018). "On my radar: Madani Younis's cultural highlights". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  19. ^ "Out-Spoken". www.southbankcentre.co.uk. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  20. ^ "Books". Out-Spoken. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  21. ^ "Prize for Poetry 2023". Out-Spoken. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  22. ^ "Anthony Anaxagorou — A Difficult Place To Be Human". anthonyanaxagorou.com. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  23. ^ "The Blink That Killed The Eye". Jacaranda Books. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  24. ^ "Anthony Anaxagorou — It Will Come To You EP". anthonyanaxagorou.com. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  25. ^ Heterogeneous. ASIN 0993103839.
  26. ^ Mennis, Katie (2019), "Review | After the Formalities by Anthony Anaxagorou", The London Magazine.
  27. ^ "How to Write It".
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