John Lyons is a painter and poet, born in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad & Tobago. He was introduced to poetry from a very young age, surrounded by songs and folklore. This seed of the link between poetry and music was planted in the young Lyons, and since then music, and the rhythm of words expressing emotions, thoughts and ideas, has been the beating heart of his poetry. After the death of his mother, Lyons grew up with his grandmother in rural Tobago and found solace in literature: “I read and read and read and got lost in books. That led me to writing.” He studied Design at Goldsmiths College, in London, then earned an Art Teaching diploma from the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. Lyons continued to write and paint all through his studies and the seventeen years he worked as a teacher in Manchester, and in 1987 won a number of poetry prizes: the Peterloo Poets Afro-Caribbean and Asian Prize, 2nd prize in the Cultureword Poetry Competition, a commendation in the National Poetry Competition, and in the Peterloo Poetry Competition. His first full collection of poems, Lure of the Cascadura, was published in 1989 by Bogle-L'Ouverture, the radical publishing house founded by Jessica and Eric Huntley. Calypso continues to be a heavy influence in Lyon’s poetry - he writes, reads and performs calypso-inspired poems in Trindadian Creole, and invites listeners to join in through call and response. His poetry has been published across 30 publications, including anthologies, magazines, and six full length collections. In 2003 he was awarded the Windrush Arts Achiever Award, and shortlisted in 2016 for the CLPE Children’s Poetry Award.
