Anthony Joseph is a British poet, novelist, musician and lecturer.
Joseph was born in Trinidad and was raised by his grandparents. He began writing as a young child and cites his main influences as the Calypso, surrealism, jazz, the spiritual Baptist church that his grandparents attended, and the rhythms of Caribbean speech. Joseph has lived in the UK since 1989.
In September 2004 he was chosen by Renaissance One and the Arts Council England as one of fifty Black and Asian writers who have made major contributions to contemporary British literature, appearing in the historic ‘A Great Day’ photo and performing at the event at the British Library. In April 2005, Joseph served as the British Council's first poet-in-residence at California State University, Los Angeles.[1]
Joseph is the author of three poetry collections. Desafinado (1994), Teragaton (1997), and Bird Head Son (2009). His debut novel The African Origins of UFOs, was published by Salt Publishing in November 2006. Described as an "afro-psychedelic-noir, a poetic work of metafiction, mythology and afro-futurism", the book was endorsed by Kamau Brathwaite, Linton Kwesi Johnson, and Lauri Ramey who hailed it as "a future fiction classic". Joseph subsequently received an Arts Council award to conduct a reading tour of the UK in support of the book. In 2007, the tour continued to Europe with a ten city tour of Germany and readings in the US.
Joseph also performs and records with his band The Spasm Band. His debut album with the band Leggo de Lion was released April 2007 by Kindred Spirits.
Joseph's new book, Bird Head Son, his first collection of poetry since his 1997 Teragaton was published by Salt Publishing in February 2009 and coincided with the release of his second album with The Spasm Band, also called Bird Head Son. The album was recorded over two days in Meudon, France, with guests including Keziah Jones, Joseph Bowie and vibraphonist David Neerman.
Joseph holds an MA in Creative Writing from Goldsmiths College, University of London[2] where he is also completing a Ph.D. He lectures in creative and life writing at Birkbeck, University of London and tours internationally.
Joseph's third album with the Spasm Band, "Rubber Orchestras" was released in August 2011. His fourth poetry collection, also entitled "Rubber Orchestras", is to be released in November 2011.
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