Prize-winning poets join Festival of Chichester celebration

In the city’s Assembly Room, they will be reading from their latest collections as well as revisiting some of the highlights of their extensive back catalogues. Both poets – who are married and live near Lewes – have won the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry.

Spokesman Barry Smith said: “It’s a real delight to welcome two of the UK’s most brilliant writers to our Festival of Chichester. Anyone who loves poetry will warm to Grace and John’s imaginative wordplay.

“John Agard achieved the Queen’s Gold Medal in 2012, being joined on the honours list in 2021 by his wife Grace, who was nominated for her pioneering voice. They were born in Georgetown, Guyana and moved to Britain in 1977. Both have worked as journalists as well as writers. John was poet in residence for the BBC and is a fellow of the Royal Society for Literature.

“Grace and John are well known to pupils and students in this country and across the English-speaking world as their work has featured on GCSE and other examination syllabuses. Perhaps Grace’s best loved poem is Hurricane Hits England, which deals with the connections between cultures and ends with the words, ‘the earth is the earth is the earth.’ “John Agard’s flamboyant performance style is typified by the way he dramatically delivers the poem Half-Caste, which is a favourite of many schoolchildren but is also an insightful social commentary.”

Barry added: “We’ve had many famous poets at the Poetry & Jazz Café but have never featured a married couple before.

“I absolutely guarantee that audiences will be entranced, inspired, moved and entertained by these two brilliant poets. I still can’t quite believe that we’ve managed to get them both on stage at the same time in Chichester!

“Featuring alongside Grace and John will be the polished jazz of former child-prodigy Julian Stringle, who will be playing clarinet, saxophone and singing alongside star guitarist, Dominic Ashworth.

“The virtuoso performers, who regularly feature as the Dream Duo at top clubs and international festivals, will create scintillating jazz sounds to complement the poetry. Described as the most stylish clarinet player in Europe and hailed as world class by Sir John Dankworth, Julian has featured regularly in the British Jazz Awards.”

“There’s a really special atmosphere about the Poetry & Jazz Café. It seems to be a winning formula as the event is always well-supported.”

The Poetry & Jazz Café, Thursday, June 23, 7.30pm, Assembly Room, North Street, Chichester, PO19 1LQ. Tickets £15 from the Novium, Tower Street, Chichester, 01243 816595; www.thenovium.org/boxoffice; www.festivalofchichester.co.uk.