British Council sponsors three UK writers for the Galle Literary Festival 2011

Supporting cultural relations between the UK and Sri Lanka through literature, the British Council is sponsoring three of UK’s well known writers for the Galle Literary Festival – poets Roger McGough and Daljit Nagra and contemporary writer Jill Dawson.

Popularly acclaimed as one of Britain’s best-loved poets for both adults and children, Roger McGough has written poetry for over 40 years. In addition to writing poetry, he presents the BBC Radio 4 programme, ‘Poetry Please’. His latest poetry volume is ‘That Awkward Age’ and, for children, ‘All the Best’, ‘The Bees’ Knees’ and ‘Slapstick’.

Much travelled and translated, Roger’s poetry has gained increasing popularity, especially from its widespread use in schools. A prolific writer, he is twice winner of the Signal Award for best children’s poetry book and recipient of the Cholmondeley Award.

Born and brought up in West London and Sheffield, Daljit Nagra is a newer UK poet. Living in London and working as a secondary school English teacher, Daljit’s poem ‘Look we have coming to Dover!’ won the Forward Prize in 2004 as Best Single Poem. The poem title became the name of his first collection which he published in 2007. The collection won the Forward Poetry Prize for Best First Collection in 2007 and in 2008 it won the Arts Council England Decibel Award. The poetry collection refers to the experience of British-born Indians and often employs ‘Punglish’ - English spoken by Indian Punjabi immigrants.

A writer and poet, Jill Dawson began publishing at the tender age of 22 by winning first prize in a national short story competition in the UK. An author of six novels, editor of six anthologies of poetry and short stories and having published a poetry pamphlet, Jill received an honorary doctorate in 2006 in recognition of her writing and her work with new writers.

Jill has taught creative writing on a freelance basis since 1988, both in the UK and internationally and she is currently an advisory Fellow for the Royal Literary Fund and the Founding Director of ‘Gold Dust’, a unique mentoring scheme for new writers in the UK.

In addition to their activities during the Galle Literary Festival, Roger McGough and Jill Dawson will conduct separate literary events at the British Council premises. Roger’s event titled ‘Roger McGough: A work in progress’ will be held at British Council Colombo and Kandy on January 22 and 24 respectively. The event will showcase Roger’s poetry performances to the public completely free of charge.

Jill Dawson will conduct a creative writing workshop for those above 17 years of age on January 31 at British Council Colombo. A registration fee of Rs. 500 will be accepted on a first-come first-served basis. On February 1 at British Council Colombo, Jill will read from her novel, ‘The Great Lover’, which will be followed by an interactive Q&A session. The public can attend this event for free.

For more information regarding the workshops and events held at British Council by Roger McGough and Jill Dawson, please call Lakmaal on 4521542 or Ranmali on 4521538.