Raymond Antrobus
Awards & Honours
7
Awards Won
3
Honours
2
Records
Raymond Antrobus's achievements are remarkable not just for their number but for their historic firsts. He is the first poet ever to win the Rathbones Folio Prize, a feat that signaled a broader recognition of poetry within the literary establishment. Winning the Ted Hughes Award and the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award in the same year cemented his reputation. His election as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature at age 34 and his MBE for services to literature reflect his impact. The addition of his poems to the GCSE syllabus ensures his work reaches a new generation. The 2026 Guggenheim Fellowship places him among an elite group of international artists and scholars.
Awards
Honours & Distinctions
Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL)
Elected in recognition of literary achievement.
Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)
Appointed for services to literature.
Guggenheim Fellowship
Awarded for creative achievement in poetry.
Records & Feats
First poet to win the Rathbones Folio Prize
In 2019, Antrobus became the first poet in the prize's history to win the Rathbones Folio Prize, which had previously been awarded to fiction and non-fiction works.
First children's book read using BSL on the BBC
His book Can Bears Ski? was the first to be read using British Sign Language on the BBC, performed by Rose Ayling-Ellis.