Roger Robinson
Roger Robinson
Roger Robinson divides his time between London and Trinidad. In the past he has represented British writing worldwide with the British Council, and independently at venues and festivals including Crossing Borders (Amsterdam), Naples Poetry Festival and Mercury Lounge (Ottawa).
In 2002 he began representing new British writing with tours and trips to Bulgaria, Greece, Berlin and Finland, Turkey, Vietnam, Philippines, Argentina, Bulgaria, Greece, India, the Czech Republic, Botswana and Mozambique with the British Council. Robinson has also worked as a programmer for Apples & Snakes and a judge for The Poetry Book Society’s pamphlet choice. He was featured in the New Generation Poets collection at the National Portrait Gallery. His first anthology of short fiction, Adventures in 3D, was published in 2002 with a subsequent sell out UK tour.
“Suitcase” his debut poetry collection showed him to be a leading light in the London spoken word scene since the early 90′s. ”Suckle”, Roger Robinson’s much-anticipated follow up to “Suitcase”, proved once and for all that Roger’s unique territory was memory and its capital was Trinidad. “Suckle” was a selection for The Big Red Read and was also a winner of the People’s Book Prize.
Robinson’s solo theatre: The Shadow Boxer; Letter from My Father’s Brother; and Prohibition (all premiered at the British Festival of Visual Theatre at Battersea Arts Centre).
Roger has also been an associate artist at Theatre Royal Stratford East where he ran SpokeLab, a theatre and spoken word development program. He was chosen by Decibel as one of 50 writers who have influenced the black-British writing canon over the past 50 years. He has received commissions from Theatre Royal Stratford East, The National Trust, London Open House and the National Portrait Gallery.
Genres:
Poetry, Plays, Short Fiction
Bibliography:
Suckle: Waterways Books 2009
Suitcase: Waterways Books 2005
Adventures in 3D: Lubin and Kleyner 2002
Prizes and Awards:
Peoples Book Prize Winner for Suckle
Selection for the Big Red Read for Suckle
Critical Perspectives:
Paul Farley's mini essay on Roger Robinson's poems in Ten.
For these reasons Roger has been asked to devise and coordinated workshops for organisations such as Schools Music Association, Creative Partnerships West, The Barbican Centre, The South Bank Centre, National Trust, Theatre Royal Stratford East and Apples & Snakes. He utilises areas of high interest to the students he teaches. Integrating hip hop lyrics and cutting edge contemporary poetry. His students write about topics of interest to them.
His workshops are designed to raise both pupil self esteem and motivation. Roger’s belief that language is a powerful resource available to us all is particularly resonant and empowering to immigrant and excluded children.
With over ten years experience of teaching in schools, theatres, universities and community centres, Roger Robinson is a highly experienced workshop facilitator. He has devised and coordinated children’s poetry workshops for organisations such as Schools Music Association, Creative Partnerships West, The Barbican Centre, The South Bank Centre, National Trust, Theatre Royal Stratford East and Apples & Snakes.
"The key words were "I can do it" and they believed in themselves and raised their level of achievement wonderfully. Our staff has been stunned." - David Stanier, Headteacher, Foleshill School.
Relevant Age Groups:
11 - 14 years, 14 - 16 years, 16 - 18 years, 18 + (adults)if you like this artist, you might also like this artist
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