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George the Poet: ‘Poetry is the artistic wing of politics’
He performed at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding and was offered an MBE before he turned 30 – but the writer is ready to head in a more radical direction
A few years ago, the answer to that question would have been straightforward – he’s a beloved Cambridge-educated Ugandan-British spoken word artist, whose lyrical social commentary about British life had reached such a wide audience that he was invited to read a love poem at the 2018 royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. In Go Home, he criticises government anti-immigration policies, particularly a 2013 billboard van campaign: “This is kiddish, it’s foolish, it’s not British, it’s brutish.” At the Penguin Random House UK conference that year, he performed Search Party – “I paint a portrait of ends at these corporate events / And you know me, I’m never scared of causing offence” – to loud applause. He still makes music and writes poetry; he’s made appearances on other artists’ projects, including rapper Nines’ Crop Circle 3 and Skrapz’s Be Right Back,and next month is taking part in The Poets’ Revival at the Royal Albert Hall alongside Kae Tempest, Suli Breaks and Momtaza Mehri.
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