Raymond Antrobus

ABOUT RAYMOND ANTROBUS

British poet, educator, and writer who has been performing poetry since 2007. In March 2019, he won the Ted Hughes Award for new work in poetry. He has 2,000 followers on Twitter and 10,000 on Instagram.

As a young child, he was thought to have learning difficulties until his deafness was discovered when he was six years old. He became a teacher and was one of the first recipients of an MA degree in Spoken Word education from Goldsmiths, University of London.

In April 2022, deaf actress and winner of Strictly Come Dancing Rose Ayling-Ellis made history by signing a BSL version of Antrobus's children's picture book 'Can Bears Ski?' on CBeebies. It was the first time airing a story told entirely in British Sign Language. His poems have been published in a number of outlets, including Lit Hub and Poetry Review.

He was born in Hackney, East London to an English mother and a Jamaican father who in the 1960s had emigrated to England to work.

Other winners of the Ted Hudges Award include Andrew Motion and Kae Tempest .