Daljit Nagra

Daljit Nagra
Daljit Nagra, 2007
Born	1966 Yiewsley, London, England
Occupation	Poet
Nationality	British
Notable works	Look We Have Coming to Dover! (2007)
Notable awards	Forward Poetry Prize

Daljit Nagra (born 1966) is a British poet whose debut collection, Look We Have Coming to Dover! — a title alluding to W. H. Auden's Look, Stranger!, D. H. Lawrence's Look! We Have Come Through! and by epigraph also to Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach" — was published by Faber in February 2007. Nagra's poems relate to the experience of Indians born in the UK (especially Indian Sikhs), and often employ language that imitates the English spoken by Indian immigrants whose first language is Punjabi, which some have termed "Punglish". He currently works part-time at JFS School in Kenton and visits schools, universities and festivals where he performs his work.

Daljit Nagra, whose Sikh Punjabi parents came to Britain from India in the late 1950s, was born and grew up in Yiewsley, near London's Heathrow Airport, the family moving to Sheffield in 1982. In 1988 he went to study for a BA and MA in English at Royal Holloway, University of London. Tentatively beginning to write, he later attended poetry workshops, courses and tutorials, receiving feedback from poets including Pascale Petit, Moniza Alvi, John Stammers, Carol Ann Duffy and Jackie Kay, and from 2002 being mentored by Stephen Knights.

In 2003, Nagra won the Smith/Doorstop Books Pamphlet Competition, leading to the subsequent publication of his Oh MY Rub!, which was the Poetry Book Society's first ever PBS Pamphlet Choice. In 2004 Nagra won the Forward Poetry Prize for best single poem for "Look We Have Coming to Dover!". Nagra's debut book-length collection, which takes the same title, was published in 2007, when it received extremely positive reviews and was featured on television and radio, including the prominent BBC programme Newsnight Review.Look We Have Coming to Dover! won the 2007 Forward Poetry Prize for best first collection, the South Bank Show Decibel Award and was nominated for the Costa Poetry Award, the Guardian First Book Award, the Aldeburgh Prize and the Glen Dimplex Award.