Ts Eliot Prize Winner
A Portable Paradise
by Roger Robinson
Summary
Anchored in the trauma of the Grenfell Tower fire and the wider experience of Black British communities, these poems seek and find a portable paradise—an inner resilience and beauty that cannot be taken away by violence or neglect. Robinson draws on the oral traditions of dub and spoken word poetry to create a lyric voice that is both communal and deeply personal, and the title poem in particular resonated far beyond literary circles. The book marked a significant moment in the visibility of Caribbean-British voices in UK poetry.
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Historical Context & Significance
Robinson's win was a landmark for "Dub Poetry" influences; the title poem became a viral sensation for its message of inner resilience.