Jason Allen-Paisant
{{Short description|Jamaican poet, writer and academic (born 1980)}}
{{use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name =
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| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1980}}
| birth_place = Jamaica
| death_date =
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| nationality =
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| occupation = Poet, writer and academic
| education =
| alma_mater = University of the West Indies (Mona);
École normale supérieure (Paris);
University of Oxford
| years_active =
| known_for =
| employer = University of Manchester
| notable_works = Thinking with Trees (2021)
Self-Portrait as Othello (2023)
| awards = OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature (2022)
T. S. Eliot Prize (2023)
| website = {{url|www.jasonallenpaisant.com/}}
}}
Jason Allen-Paisant (born 1980) is a Jamaican poet, writer and academic, based in the UK. His second collection of poems, Self-Portrait as Othello, won the 2023 T. S. Eliot Prize and the 2023 Forward Prize for Best Collection.
Biography
= Early years and education =
Allen-Paisant grew up in a small village in Manchester Parish,{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/jan/16/ts-eliot-poetry-prize-winner-jason-allen-paisant-interview|title=Interview {{!}} 'It was a real trauma': the TS Eliot poetry prize winner on his turbulent upbringing|first=Lucy|last=Knight|newspaper=The Guardian|date=16 January 2024}} central Jamaica. His mother was a primary school teacher.{{Cite news |date=2024-01-15 |title=Jason Allen-Paisant: Poet's Self-Portrait as Othello wins TS Eliot prize |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-67965351 |access-date=2024-01-16 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |title=Carcanet Press - Thinking with Trees |url=https://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9781800171138 |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=www.carcanet.co.uk}} He attended the University of the West Indies (Mona), followed by further study at the École normale supérieure (Paris), and the University of Oxford,
= Writing =
His dissertation was on theatre from the French- and English-speaking Caribbean and a monograph on Derek Walcott, Aimé Césaire and Bertolt Brecht, Théâtre dialectique postcolonial (Classiques Garnier),{{Cite book |last=Allen-Paisant |first=Jason |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6F9FswEACAAJ |title=Théâtre dialectique postcolonial: Aimé Césaire et Derek Walcott |date=2017 |publisher=Classiques Garnier |isbn=978-2-406-06259-2 |language=fr}} was published in 2017. A second monograph, Engagements with Aimé Césaire: Thinking with Spirits, will be published in February 2024 with Oxford University Press.{{Cite web |title=Oxford University Press |url=https://global.oup.com/academic/product/engagements-with-aim-csaire-9780192867223?cc=gb&lang=en& |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=global.oup.com}}
Allen-Paisant's first collection of poems, Thinking with Trees (2021),{{Cite book |last=Allen-Paisant |first=Jason |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3foyEAAAQBAJ&q=Thinking+with+Trees+Paisant |title=Thinking with Trees |date=2021-06-24 |publisher=Carcanet Poetry |isbn=978-1-80017-114-5 |language=en}} won the poetry category of the 2022 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature.{{Cite web |date=2022-04-30 |title=Celeste Mohammed wins OCM Bocas Prize |url=https://trinidadexpress.com/features/local/celeste-mohammed-wins-ocm-bocas-prize/article_5de12bc0-c8f0-11ec-a1bf-83f713609344.html |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=Trinidad Express Newspapers |language=en}} His second collection, Self-Portrait as Othello (2023),{{Cite book |last=Allen-Paisant |first=Jason |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=et2wEAAAQBAJ&q=self+portrait+as+othello |title=Self-Portrait as Othello |date=2023-03-30 |publisher=Carcanet Poetry |isbn=978-1-80017-311-8 |language=en}} uses William Shakespeare's Othello to explore a black male immigrant's search for an identity and masculine role mode. It was a Poetry Book Society Choice in 2023 and went on to win the 2023 Forward Prize for Best Collection{{Cite news |last=Knight |first=Lucy |date=2023-10-16 |title=Bohdan Piasecki wins best performed poem in new Forward prize category |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/oct/16/bohdan-piasecki-wins-best-performed-poem-in-new-forward-prize-category-malika-booker-jason-allen-paisant-momtaza-mehri |access-date=2024-01-16 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} and the 2023 T. S. Eliot Prize.{{Cite news |last=Creamer |first=Ella |date=2024-01-15 |title=Jamaican poet Jason Allen-Paisant's Self-Portrait as Othello wins TS Eliot prize |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/jan/15/jamaican-poet-jason-allen-paisants-self-portrait-as-othello-wins-ts-eliot-prize |access-date=2024-01-16 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} According to the Eliot Prize judging panel (which comprised Paul Muldoon, Sasha Dugdale and Denise Saul), Allen-Paisant's collection is "a book with large ambitions that are met with great imaginative capacity, freshness and technical flair."{{cite news|url=https://www.euronews.com/culture/2024/01/16/jamaican-poet-jason-allen-paisant-wins-ts-eliot-prize-for-second-poetry-collection|title=Jamaican poet Jason Allen-Paisant wins T.S. Eliot prize for second poetry collection|first=Anca|last=Ulea|work=Euronews|date=16 January 2024}}
A work of creative non-fiction by Allen-Paisant, entitled The Possibility of Tenderness: A Jamaican's Search for Freedom in Nature, was published in 2025 by Hutchinson Heinemann/Penguin.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/mar/22/poet-jason-allen-paisant-the-possibility-of-tenderness-thinking-with-trees|title=Interview {{!}} Poet Jason Allen-Paisant: 'We belong in the picture'|first=Kadish|last=Morris|newspaper=The Guardian|date=22 March 2025|access-date=24 March 2025}}
= Academic career =
Allen-Paisant is currently Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Critical Theory and Creative Writing in the Department of English, American Studies, and Creative Writing at the University of Manchester.
He is an associate editor of the literary magazine Callaloo, A Journal of African Diaspora Arts and Letters.[https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/455724/the-possibility-of-tenderness-by-allen-paisant-jason/9781529153620 "The Possibility of Tenderness"], Penguin Books, 2025.
=Personal life=
Allen-Paisant lives in Leeds, west Yorkshire, with his partner and their two children.{{cite web|url=https://jasonallenpaisant.com/|title=Jason Allen-Paisant|website=jasonallenpaisant.com|access-date=26 March 2025}}
Bibliography
- Thinking with Trees, Carcanet Press, 2021, {{ISBN|9781800171145}}.
- Self-Portrait as Othello, Carcanet Press, 2023, {{ISBN|9781800173118}}.
- The Possibility of Tenderness: A Jamaican's Search for Freedom in Nature, Hutchinson Heinemann/Penguin, 2025, {{ISBN|9781529153620}}.
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- [https://www.jasonallenpaisant.com/ Jason Allen-Paisant website]
- [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/entertainment-arts-67989379 "Jamaican poet Jason Allen-Paisant reads from winning collection"], BBC News.
- [https://www.davidhigham.co.uk/authors-dh/jason-allen-paisant/ Jason Allen-Paisant] at David Higham.
- [https://writersmosaic.org.uk/people/jason-allen-paisant/ Jason Allen-Paisant] at Writers Mosaic.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen-Paisant, Jason}}
Category:21st-century Jamaican poets
Category:21st-century Jamaican male writers
Category:Academics of the University of Manchester
Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford
Category:École Normale Supérieure alumni
Category:T. S. Eliot Prize winners
Category:University of the West Indies alumni
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