RAYMOND ANTROBUS MBE, FRSL
Poet • Author
Born and raised in Hackney, Raymond Antrobus draws deeply on his early life experiences. His groundbreaking work challenges how the literary world engages with sound, language and inclusion.
Antrobus grew up with his parents often reading to him, including the works of Linton Kwesi Johnson and William Blake. At the tender age of six, he was diagnosed as deaf after initially being thought to have had learning difficulties. These early experiences of growing up in East London during the 1990s would become central to his work.
His breakout collection, The Perseverance, published in 2018, explores race, deafness, family, grief and communication through his experiences as a Deaf, mixed-race British Jamaican man. In 2019, he became the first poet to win the Rathbones Folio Prize, awarded for the best work of literature in any genre.
Why Hackney Matters
Hackney is central to Antrobus’ personal and creative story, shaping formative memories of family, identity and life in East London It is also a community he consciously wants to give back to, particularly by making his work accessible to young people in Hackney.
Through his work, Antrobus gives voice to a distinctive East London experience shaped by Black British identity and deafness, transforming personal memories into a wider creative legacy for new generations.
Did you know?
Raymond Antrobus has had several poems included in UK GCSE English Literature syllabuses, including Jamaican British, The Perseverance and Happy Birthday Moon.