Bloodshot Monochrome

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This collection is a glorious snapshot of twenty-first-century Britain. Playing with the ultimate poetic form, the sonnet, Agbabi twists and reinvents it, approaching subjects ranging from love to sex, family to race and from writing to film noir.

Reviews

Praise for Transformatrix: A rising star. Observer * Thrilling. Has a multi-dimensional richness. It's a bold, brassy work. Independent on Sunday * Draws on rap, jive and disco rhythms as much as the formal subtleties of free verse. Agbabi is a fine poet, and her linguistic wit carries satirical fire. Daily Telegraph * Combines cutting satire and outright celebration. Big Issue * [Patience Agbabi's] love of the English language, and finding new ways she can subvert it, shines through. Honest, darkly funny and endlessly creative, she takes the sonnet, chats it up, tattoos it, gives it some motherly advice and then sends it away again. -- Claire Sawers The List * Still as hard-hitting on contemporary themes of race, sex and identity as she was when she published her first collection ... combines the mastery of the tools of her poetic trade with contemporary and very personal themes ... Her words are crisp, clear and beautiful to read. Sunday Business Post * Agbabi frisks the sonnet in a way it's never been frisked before ... Thrumming with energy and verve, she brings the stage to the page in her tight rhythms and adherence to rhyme ... A confident, confluent performance from a master of "lyrical slang". -- Peggy Hughes Scotland on Sunday * Charged with passion, wit and sheer inventiveness. New Internationalist * Moving, in a subtle, understated way; it's characteristic of how Agbabi embeds the profound within the simple ... These poems - really choppy, rap-inspired prose locked into the 'straitjacket' of the sonnet - showcase Agbabi's considerable wit ... an adept and engaging take on cultural in-betweenness. Poetry London

Author Bio

Patience Agbabi was born in London in 1965 to Nigerian parents, but grew up in rural Wales with white foster parents. Featured on Channel 4 and renowned on the performance circuit, her debut collection R.A.W. won the 1997 Excelle Literary Award for poetry, and Transformatrix was highly critically acclaimed on publication in 2000. Her poems have appeared on radio and television all over the world.