With Sonnets for Albert, Trinidad-born poet, novelist, academic and musician Anthony Joseph returns to the autobiographical material explored in his earlier collection, Bird Head Son. Published via Bloomsbury on 9th June, Sonnets for Albert is described as a book of reimagined sonnets, remixing the form in a set of elegies for his father that commemorate and interrogate their complex relationship while examining the wider edges of Caribbean masculinity and fatherhood, absence, loss and longing.
In this follow-up, he weighs the impact of being the son of an absent, or mostly absent, father. Though these poems threaten to break under the weight of their emotions, they are always masterfully poised as the stylish man they depict.
Cafe Oto are hosting a special launch event on Thursday, 23 June 2022, at 8pm. Anthony Joseph will discuss Sonnets for Albert with writer and performer Hannah Silva, followed by a music-accompanied reading with Jason Yarde (alto & soprano saxophones) and Rod Youngs (drums). Tickets here.
‘An absolutely brilliant writer’ – Benjamin Zephaniah
You can buy Sonnets for Albert via the Folk Radio Book Store here.