Kitch
"The second novel by the poet, academic, musician and Renaissance man Anthony Joseph takes the life of Lord Kitchener, the calypso singer who wrote “London is the Place for me”, and turns it into a richly textured first-person narrative. This is voice-driven writing which explores how to tell a life with candour and verve." Times Literary Supplement
Price
£10.99
Author(s)
Anthony Joseph
ISBN number
9781845234195
Pages
272
Price
£10.99
Classification
Audiobook available from Audible
Biography
Fiction, Novel
Ebook
Country setting
Trinidad and Tobago
United Kingdom
Publication date
21 Jun 2018

Combining factual biography with the imaginative structure and investment in the language of the novel, Anthony Joseph fully engages with the world he recreates, and by presenting a multifaceted view from Kitch’s friends, rivals and even enemies, he gets to the heart of the man behind the music and the myth, reaching behind the sobriquet to present a holistic portrait of the calypso icon Lord Kitchener.

Born into colonial Trinidad in 1922 as Aldwyn Roberts, ‘Kitch’ emerged in the 1950s, at the forefront of multicultural Britain, acting as an intermediary between the growing Caribbean community, the islands they had left behind, and the often hostile conditions of life in post-war Britain. In the process, Kitch, as he was affectionally called, single-handedly popularised the calypso in Britain, with recordings such as ‘London is the Place for Me’, ‘The Underground Train’ and ‘Ghana’.

Joseph spoke to Lord Kitchener just once, in 1984, when he found the calypso icon standing alone for a moment in Queen’s Park Savannah, one Carnival Monday afternoon. It was a pivotal meeting in which the great calypsonian outlined his musical vision, an event which forms a moving epilogue to Kitch, Joseph’s unique biography of the Grandmaster.

Cover design by Jean-Louis Duralek.

Variations
Anthony Joseph wearing a hat and silver rings

Anthony Joseph

Anthony Joseph is a Trinidad-born poet, novelist, academic and musician who has been referred to as ‘the leader of the black avant garde in Britain.’ He is the author of Kitch, which was shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize, and longlisted for the 2019 OCM Bocas Prize, and a new novel, The Frequency of Magic, and earlier five poetry collections, including the TS Eliot prize-winner, Sonnets for Albert. He was a Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellow for 2019/20.
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