Raymond Antrobus, 32, whose debut poetry collection, The Perseverance, won the coveted Ted Hughes Award in March 2019, has also been shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize for the work, competing against Booker Prize-winning novelist Anna Burns for the £30k award.

The Hackney-born British-Jamaican, who’s performed at Glastonbury and works as a teacher, was thought to be dyslexic with severe learning disabilities until his deafness was discovered at the age of six. His poetry often deals with deafness and other personal subjects, and judges for The Ted Hughes Award praised The Perseverance as 'transformative writing creating a new cultural landscape'. The winner of The Rathbones Folio Prize, which celebrates unique works of literature in any form, is announced May 20.