The 33-year old spoken-word poet Raymond Antrobus has been named the winner of the £30,000 Rathbones Folio Prize, for his debut collection, ‘The Perseverance’. It is the first time the prize – which rewards the best work of literature of the year, regardless of form – has been awarded to a poet.
‘The Perseverance’ – published by the small press Penned in the Margins – ranges across history and continents to explore issues as wide-ranging as the poet’s diagnosis with deafness as a child, mixed heritage experience, masculinity, and his beloved father’s alcoholism and later decline into dementia and death. Last month, the book, which contains a fierce challenge of Ted Hughes’s description of deaf children, was given the Ted Hughes Award. It was shortlisted for the Griffin Prize, the Jhalak Prize, and the Somerset Maugham Award.
Kate Clanchy, chair of the judges, said: “We chose eight books we loved in different genres and deciding between them was painful. In the end it came down to two books and a tense vote. Alice Jolly’s ‘Mary Anne Sate, Imbecile’, is a feat of voice: the story of a nineteenth century servant told in short lines which jag down the page like stitches or epitaphs – a startling, original work of remembrance. In the end, though, we agreed on Raymond Antrobus’ ‘The Perseverance’, an immensely moving book of poetry which uses his D/ deaf experience, bereavement and Jamaican/British heritage to consider the ways we all communicate with each other. It’s an exceptionally brave, kind book: it seemed, in our atomised times, to be the book we most wanted to give to others, the book we all needed to read.”
Antrobus was born in Hackney, east London, to an English mother and a Jamaican father. At school, he was thought to be dyslexic with severe learning disabilities because his deafness was only discovered at a later stage. He is one of the world’s first recipients of an MA in Spoken Word Education. He works nationally and internationally as a poet and teacher.
Paul Stockton, CEO of Rathbones, said: “Sincere congratulations from all of us at Rathbones to Raymond Antrobus for winning the Rathbones Folio Prize 2019 with his book The Perseverance. It is an impressive feat to be singled out amongst such a diverse and impressive shortlist, and is very well deserved. The Rathbones Folio Prize celebrates those that create extraordinary work, and all those who were shortlisted should be proud of their accomplishments. Writing a great work of literature is a true labour of love, and all that choose to undertake such a task deserve recognition. Our aim at Rathbones is not only to celebrate and support those creating great works of literature, but to also look forward to the next generation of writers. We are looking forward to continuing our collaboration with the Folio Academy Foundation, in support of the Rathbones Folio Prize and the Rathbones Folio Mentorships for young writers.”
The 2019 judges were the poet, writer and teacher Kate Clanchy, the London-based Mexican writer Chloe Aridjis, and the author, poet and playwright Owen Sheers.
The Perseverance was chosen from a shortlist that contained four novels, a novella, one collection of poetry and two works of non-fiction from the UK, Ireland, New Zealand and North America.
Raymond Antrobus was awarded a cheque for £30,000, following an increase in the prize money from £20,000 last year. He joins Richard Lloyd Parry (2018), Hisham Matar (2017), Akhil Sharma (2015) and George Saunders (2014) as previous winners of the prize.
Launched in 2013, the Rathbones Folio Prize is the only literary prize in which all books, fiction and non-fiction, are judged, strictly on merit, by an Academy of writers.
The Rathbones Folio Prize is the flagship of the Rathbones Folio Programme, which also includes the Rathbones Folio Mentorships for aspiring young writers and Rathbones Folio Prize Sessions at literary festivals across the UK.
About The Folio Academy
The Folio Academy is a community of 300+ writers who represent excellence in literature. Academicians include: Margaret Atwood, Carol Ann Duff y, Ian McEwan, Salman Rushdie, Zadie Smith and Sir Tom Stoppard. The Academy recently recruited members including Amanda Foreman, William Dalrymple, Jon Ronson, Alan Johnson and Andrew Marr. Between them, Academicians have won thousands of literary awards, including 16 Man Booker Prizes. Academicians may be called upon to comment on literature matters in the media, to appear at festivals and public events, and may volunteer to mentor young writers in association with the charity First Story, which runs 320 residencies in secondary schools serving low-income communities.
About Rathbone Investment Management
Rathbone Investment Management is one of the UK’s leading providers of high-quality discretionary investment management services. It manages over £47.5 billion* of funds for individuals, charities and trustees, and is part of Rathbones Group Plc, an independently owned company with a listing on the London Stock Exchange. Investment management services are offered in Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Chichester, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Kendal, Liverpool, London, Lymington, Newcastle and Winchester. Offshore investment management services are offered by subsidiary Rathbone Investment Management International in Jersey.
*As at 5 April 2019, includes funds managed by Rathbone Unit Trust Management
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