Raymond Antrobus MBE FRSL was born in Hackney to an English mother and Jamaican father. In 2019 he became the first ever poet to be awarded the Rathbone Folio Prize for best work of literature in any genre.

Other accolades include the Ted Hughes award, PBS Winter Choice, A Sunday Times Young Writer of the year award, Somerset Maugham award and The Guardian Poetry Book Of The Year 2018. Also in 2019, his poem ‘Jamaican British’ was added to the UK’s GCSE syllabus.

He is the recipient of fellowships from Cave Canem, Complete Works 3, Jerwood Compton and the Royal Society of Literature. He is also one of the world’s first recipients of an MA in Spoken Word education from Goldsmiths University.

Raymond is an Ambassador for ‘The Poetry School’ and a board member for ‘English PEN’ (an organisation that promotes freedom of expression and literature across frontiers). His poetry has appeared on BBC 2, BBC Radio 4, The Big Issue, The Jamaica Gleaner, The Guardian and at TedxEastEnd.