Daljit Nagra

Daljit Nagra (1966) is a British poet whose debut collection Look We Have Coming to Dover! was published in February 2007. Its title refers to the collections of W. H. Auden's Look, Stranger!, D. H. Lawrence's Look! We Have Come Through! and, by epigraph, Matthew Arnold's Dover Beach. Nagra's poems relate to the experiences of British-born Indians (particularly Indian Sikhs) and often use language that mimics the English used by Indian immigrants whose mother tongue is Punjabi and which some refer to as 'Punglish'. His poems are also used in the assessment of final exams (Edexcel, AQA English Literature GCSE). He has won major awards and competitions (Society of Authors Travelling Scholarship Award, Forward Poetry Prize, Smith/Doorstop Books Pamphlet Competition) and his poems and articles have been published in prestigious journals (The New Yorker, The Atlantic Review, The London Review of Books, Poetry London, Poetry International, as well as The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Observer, The Times of India). He has participated in numerous residencies and has chaired many prestigious competitions as a judge (Samuel Johnson Prize, Guardian First Book Award, Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award, National Poetry Competition, Manchester Poetry Prize).

Daljit Nagra was born to Sikh Punjabi parents who came to Britain from India in the late 1950s. He graduated with a BA and MA in English from Royal Holloway, University of London. He learnt his poetic craft from poets such as Pascale Petit, Moniza Alvi, John Stammers, Carol Ann Duffy and Jackie Kay, and has been mentored by Stephen Knights since 2002.

He has published five collections of poetry with Faber & Faber. He currently works part-time at the JFS in Kenton, London, and visits schools, universities and festivals to present his work. He regularly presents a weekly programme on poetry on national radio. In November 2020, he was appointed Chair of the Royal Society of Literature and was the only writer to be commissioned to write a poem for the King's coronation in May 2023, which was broadcast live to around half a billion households. He is Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University London.

Best known works: Oh MY Rub!; Look We Have Coming to Dover!; Tippoo Sultan's Incredible White-Man-Eating Tiger Toy-Machine!!!; Ramayana; „British Museum“