Patience Agbabi is a black British female poet born in London in 1965. Some of her poems include The Doll's House, Telling Tales, and What Do Women Like Bes'? to name three out of the many published.
The Doll’s House is a very critically acclaimed piece of hers. At 580 words, Agbabi herself has narrated it and recited it on countless occasions. Her poems usually have quite contemporary themes but are structured with very traditional poetic forms. She pays a strong homage to spoken words and is a performer of poems herself, having been on several reading tours with a variety of fellow poets. She touches on many contemporary and controversial issues of our day and age and thus, her poems reflect those themes strongly.
1995 marks the year of Agbabi’s first official publication of her poems. “The poems in her first book R.A.W.” have a very contemporary feel and follow the rhythm that is very similar to that of rap. Transformatrix, her next poetry collection, discusses contemporary Britain, drawing most of its inspiration from the popular music of the time. Bloodshot Monochrome, published in 2008, delves deep into the issues of politics, social structures, and “captures and considers moments in time through long-dead authors”, according to a Wikipedia author.
Agbabi’s parents, originally from Nigeria, decided to let Agbabi spend her teenage years in North Wales. Currently, she resides in Gravesend, Kent. Agbabi has accumulated several acclimations and accomplishments throughout her career as a poet, some of which include, being named the “Poetry Book Society’s ‘Next Generation’ poets” in 2004, appointed Canterbury Poet Laureate in 2010, The Doll’s House featured in The Poetry Review, and Telling Tales being shortlisted for The Poetry Society’s 2014 Ted Hughes Award, just to name a few.
Agbabi's poems and stage presence is much celebrated and appreciated in both contemporary settings and more traditional contexts.
