Anthony Anaxagorou | |
|---|---|
 Anaxagorou in 2010 | |
| Born | March 1983 (age 40) 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 | |
Anthony Anaxagorou FRSL is a British-born Cypriot poet, writer, publisher and educator.
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]
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.
His poetry collection Heritage Aesthetics won the 2023 Ondaatje Prize. [12]
In 2023 Anaxagorou was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. [13] [14]
In 2012, Anaxagorou founded Out-Spoken, a monthly poetry and live music night, [15] where he remains Artistic Director. In 2019, Out-Spoken started a long-term residency at London's Southbank Centre. [16] 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. [17] 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. [18]
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