Trini author wins prestigious TS Eliot prize

rinidadian author Anthony Joseph has won the TS Eliot prize for his collection Sonnets for Albert. Joseph won the £25,000 poetry prize for his work which is described as an autobiographical collection that weighs the impact of growing up with a largely absent father.

Born in Trinidad and Tobago, Joseph migrated to the United Kingdom in 1989 at the age of 21.He lived with his grandparents and loved music and poetry from young. 
He told Loop News in an earlier interview that he grew up in an environment that taught him in order to succeed he had to go away. 
In addition to producing five poetry collections, Joseph has authored three novels among them Kitch: A Fictional Biography of a Calypso Icon, which was shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness prize and the Royal Society of Literature’s Encore award and was longlisted for the 2019 OCM Bocas prize for Caribbean literature.
He is also a musician and had eight critically acclaimed albums to his credit.
Joseph is the second Trinidadian to win the lucrative prize.
In 2020 dub poet Roger Robinson won the prize. He was on the panel of judges which included Chair of judges Jean Sprackland, and  2021 Costa book of the year winner Hannah Lowe.
The judges said each of the shortlisted books “spoke powerfully to us in its own distinctive voice”.
Sprackland said: “From this strong field our choice is Sonnets for Albert, a luminous collection which celebrates humanity in all its contradictions and breathes new life into this enduring form."
This year saw a record 201 submissions.  (Source; The Loop, Jan 18, 2023)

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