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Daljit Nagra MBE FRSL (born 1966[1]) is a British poet whose debut collection, Look We Have Coming to Dover! – a title alluding to W. H. Auden's Look, Stranger!, D. H. Lawrence's Look! We Have Come Through! and by epigraph also to Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach" – was published by Faber in February 2007. Nagra's poems relate to the experience of Indians born in the UK (especially Indian Sikhs), and often employ language that imitates the English spoken by Indian immigrants whose first language is Punjabi, which some have termed "Punglish".[2] He currently[when?] works part-time at JFS School in Kenton, London,[citation needed] and visits schools, universities and festivals where he performs his work. He was appointed chair of the Royal Society of Literature in November 2020. He is a professor of creative writing at Brunel University London.[3]
Daljit Nagra | |
|---|---|
 At a poetry reading in 2007 | |
| Born | 1966 (age 57–58) Yiewsley, England |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Nationality | British |
| Notable works | Look We Have Coming to Dover! (2007) |
| Notable awards | Forward Poetry Prize |
| Website | |
| www | |
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Daljit Nagra, whose Sikh Punjabi parents came to Britain from India in the late 1950s, was born and grew up in Yiewsley, near London's Heathrow Airport. The family moved to Sheffield in 1982.[4] In 1988, Nagra went to study for a BA and MA in English at Royal Holloway, University of London.[4] Tentatively beginning to write, he later attended poetry workshops, courses and tutorials, receiving feedback from poets including Pascale Petit, Moniza Alvi, John Stammers, Carol Ann Duffy and Jackie Kay, and from 2002, being mentored by Stephen Knights.[4]
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In 2003, Nagra won the Smith/Doorstop Books Pamphlet Competition, leading to the publication of his Oh MY Rub!, which was the Poetry Book Society's first PBS Pamphlet Choice.[citation needed] In 2004, he won the Forward Poetry Prize for best single poem for "Look We Have Coming to Dover!". His debut book-length collection, which takes the same title, was published in 2007, when it received extremely positive reviews and was featured on television and radio, including the prominent BBC programme Newsnight Review.[5] Look We Have Coming to Dover! won the 2007 Forward Poetry Prize for best first collection[6] and the South Bank Show Decibel Award.[7]
His poem "Look We Have Coming to Dover" (2007), is used in the Edexcel "Poems of the Decade" A-Level qualification.[8]
In 2014, he won the Society of Authors Travelling Scholarship Award.[9]
His poems have been published in the New Yorker,[10] Atlantic Review, The London Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, Poetry Review, Poetry London, Poetry International, The Rialto and The North.
Nagra has been on the Board of the Poetry Book Society and the Poetry Archive. He has judged the 2008 Samuel Johnson Prize,[11] the Guardian First Book Award 2008, the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2008, the National Poetry Competition 2009, the 2010 Manchester Poetry Prize.[12] and the Costa Book Award poetry category and overall winner in 2012. He has also hosted the T. S. Eliot Poetry Readings 2009. He was the Keats House Poet-In-Residence from July 2014 to June 2015, and he was an Eton College Wisdom Scholar in November 2014.
Nagra has acted as the Lead Poetry Tutor at the Faber Academy and has run workshops internationally. He is a contributor to BBC radio, and in October 2015, he became the first poet in residence for BBC Radio 4.[13] He was succeeded in this role by Alice Oswald.[14] Nagra has written articles for The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Observer, The Times of India. He teaches English[15] at Brunel University.[4]
In 2017, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.[16][17]
His poem "Singh Song!" was added to the AQA English Literature GCSE love and relationships poetry specification.[18]
Nagra was appointed chair of the Royal Society of Literature in November 2020,[19] taking over from Lisa Appignanesi, who had held the position since 2016.[20]
Nagra was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 Birthday Honours for services to literature.[21]
In 2023, Nagra wrote a spoken-word piece that was performed by actor James Nesbitt at the Coronation Concert, to mark the coronation of Charles III and Camilla.[22]
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Nagra married a woman he met at university, not long after they graduated.[23] The marriage produced a daughter, but the couple divorced, at Nagra's behest. Subsequently, Nagra met and married his current wife Katherine, with whom he has two daughters.[24] During the 2000s, they lived in Dollis Hill, north-west London, before moving to Harrow in the 2010s.[25]
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- Oh MY Rub! – Smith/Doorstop, 2003. ISBN 978-1902382548
- Look We Have Coming to Dover! – Faber & Faber, 2007. ISBN 978-0571231225
- Tippoo Sultan's Incredible White-Man-Eating Tiger Toy-Machine!!! – Faber & Faber, 2012. ISBN 978-0571264919
- Ramayana – Faber & Faber, 2013. ISBN 978-0571294879 (hardback); ISBN 978-0571313846 (paperback).
- "British Museum" – Faber & Faber, 2017. ISBN 978-0571333738 (hardback)
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- Anon. (6 October 2014). "Novelists are overrated". Writer at Work. India Today. 39 (40): 73.
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