Anthony Joseph is an award-winning Trinidad-born poet, novelist, academic and musician. Joseph began writing as a young child, and was heavily influenced by calypso, surrealism, jazz, Caribbean speech, and the spiritual Baptist church his grandparents attended. He has authored five poetry collections: Desafinado (1994), Teragaton (1998), Bird Head Son (2009), Rubber Orchestras (2011), and Sonnets For Albert (2022). Sonnets For Albert, shortlisted for the 2022 Forward Prize for Best First Collection, returns to the autobiographical Bird Head Son and measures the impact of being the son of a mostly absent father. His poems are most remarkable for their density of phrasing and use of description and melody, placing him somewhat within a Walcottian lineage but also able to forge his own path through his own take on creolism and musicality . A talented musician, Joseph is the lead vocalist for The Spasm Band and has released eight critically acclaimed albums. Other works include the novels Kitch: A Fictional Biography of a Calypso Icon (2018) and The African Origins of UFOs (2006).
