Patience Agbabi
“A fascinating, original and smart adventure tale with a rhythmic prose style that leaps off the page into scintillating life. It has a magic all of its own”
Patience Agbabi has spent over 30 years celebrating the written and spoken word. Her four celebrated poetry collections include Telling Tales, a 21st century remix of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Her Leap Cycle series for middle-grade readers charts the adventures of Elle, a 12-year-old girl born with The Gift of travelling through time. Book 1, The Infinite (Canongate, 2020), explores neurodiversity, ecology and difference and Bernardine Evaristo and Philip Pullman are enthusiastic fans. The Infinite was shortlisted for numerous prizes including The Arthur C. Clarke Award 2021 and it won Wales Book of the Year: Children & Young People Category 2021.
Her writing has appeared on radio and TV and she has toured around the world to festivals and events, both independently, and with the British Council.
“The Infinite is vivid, funny, exciting and inventive. ...the characters are so delightful that I don’t think anyone could fail to like them.
I was so fond of Elle and Big Ben that I’d have followed them anywhere. Patience Agbabi has created something fresh and original here, and I look forward very much to what she writes next”
Agbabi’s first in a series of four books, The Infinite, is a time-twisting adventure for children aged 8-12. It tells the story of Elle, a Leapling – one of the special children born on 29 February who possess The Gift of moving through time. With her best pal Big Ben, she sets off on a journey into the future – to fix things before it is too late.
Elle returns in The Time-Thief, only to discover that a valuable artefact has been stolen from the Museum of the Past, the Present and the Future. This time, she travels to 1752 to catch a thief, help her friend, MC² and save our future.
The third book, The Circle Breakers, was released this year- Elle and her friends end up in 1880, face-to-face with criminal mastermind, The Grandfather!
The final book, The Past Master, is set to be released February 2024.
Delightful and energetic, the books are smart adventures full of lovable characters which cover themes of equality, celebrating our differences, neurodiversity, and protecting our future.
“Patience Agbabi’s The Refugee’s Tale is a small masterpiece of empathy.”
Patience is also the acclaimed author of four poetry collections, Bloodshot Monochrome, Transformatrix, R.A.W., and Telling Tales, which retells Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales for the 21st century. From The Miller's Tale to The Wife of Bath's, Agbabi evokes the performance and wordplay elements of the work.
Published by Canongate Books in 2014, the collection was shortlisted for the 2014 Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry and Wales Book of The Year 2015. Her poem, ‘The Doll’s House’, was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem 2014. In 2015, Patience was a recipient of The Cholmondeley Award. Following a launch of Telling Tales at Southwark Cathedral, Patience toured the book to festivals and venues around the UK with producer Renaissance One.
Watch a video below of Telling Tales featuring characters from Agbabi’s collection: performed by poets selected by Agbabi and Renaissance One including Francesca Beard, Steve Tasane, Dzifa Benson and Michael Brome.
Medieval meets Modern in a sizzling staged slam of poets, each of whom breathes life into one of Patience Agbabi's characters from her latest poetry collection, Telling Tales (Canongate, 2014). Filmed at the Albany, Deptford in 2014 as part of the Telling Tales Tour. The event was in partnership with Tilt, Apples and Snakes and the Albany.
Highlights 2018 to 2021
2021: publication of The Time-Thief (Canongate), online readings and workshops for organisations and festivals including CBBC and Hay Festival.
2020 - April: publication of The Infinite (Canongate), online readings and workshops for organisations and festivals including Writing On The Wall (WOW) and Book Trust.
2018 to 2019: US tours to Georgetown University, Boston University, Vassar College, Arizona State University
2018: Guest Lecturer, The Historic Dockyard, Chatham
2018: Writer-In-Residence at the Brontë Parsonage and Museum
2018 to 2019: Judge for the Chaucer Heritage Trust Competition