The Young Inferno wins the CLPE Poetry Award 2009

The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education is delighted to announce that the winner of the CLPE Poetry Award for 2009 is:

John Agard: The Young Inferno, illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura

The presentation was made at the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education on Tuesday July 7th 2009 by last year’s winner Jackie Kay.

The CLPE Poetry Award honours excellence in poetry written for children. It is presented annually for a book of poetry published in the preceding year. Previous winners include Roger McGough, Fiona Waters and Grace Nichols whose anthology Under the Moon, Over the Sea edited with John Agard won the inaugural CLPE Poetry Award in 2003.

The judges of the award this year were Jackie Kay, Andrew Lambirth and Lindsay MacRae, chaired by Margaret Meek Spencer.

Jackie Kay, poetry award judge said of The Young Inferno:

“John Agard’s work for young people is always engaging. You can never tell through which original lens Agard will look. His depth of thought and vision always surprise as well as entertain. The Young Inferno is a vibrant and brilliant retelling for young people of Dante’s classic, Agard finds ways to make the old new as we follow our hoodie hero through the nine circles of hell and back again. Bang up to date and invigorating. Those that know the original will enjoy the double read, and those that don’t will still enjoy Agard’s way of seeing. The book is fabulously illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura and is a nice object to hold in the hand. Always energetic and mentally dextrous, Agard’s The Young Inferno puts us through the paces and brings us face to face with the Furies!”

For further information, please contact:

Ann Lazim 020 7902 2287 email ann@clpe.co.uk