British Museum

Description

Dalit Nagra possesses one of the most distinctive voices in British poetry. British Museum is his third collection, and follows his electrifying version of the epic Ramayana. Here, his characteristic wit and ebullience remain to the fore, but his political edge has been further honed in a series of meditations and reflections upon our heritage, our legacy, and the institutions that define them: the BBC, Hadrian's Wall, our schools and universities, and the British Museum of the title poem. Compassionate, charismatic, charged, Daljit Nagra has written a book that asks profound questions of our ethics and responsibilities at a time of great challenge to our sense of national identity.

Daljit Nagra was born and raised in West London, then Sheffield. He currently lives in Harrow with his wife and daughters. In 2004 his poem 'Look We Have Coming to Dover!' won the Forward Prize for Best Individual Poem, and his first collection of the same name won the 2007 Forward Prize for Best First Collection, was shortlisted for the Costa Poetry Award and won the 2008 South Bank Show/Arts Council Decibel Award. Tippoo Sultan's Incredible White-Man-Eating Tiger Toy-Machine!!! (2011) and the Ramayana (2013) were both shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize. He teaches at Brunel University London and is currently Poet in Residence at BBC Radio 4 and 4 Extra.