Linton Kwesi Johnson, the man regarded as the father of dub poetry, has won a Golden PEN award for a lifetime’s distinguished service to literature. The award is given annually to a writer resident in Britain whose work has had a profound impact on readers and who is held in high regard by fellow writers and the literary community. It was presented to Johnson, along with a golden pen and a cheque for £1,000, at the English PEN Christmas Party for members, last night, Monday, 3 December at the Free Word Centre, Farringdon Road, London.  Previous winners of the award include Iris Murdoch, Harold Pinter, Doris Lessing, John Berger, Salman Rushdie and Margaret Drabble. 

Dub poetry is a term Johnson coined to describe the way a number of reggae DJs blended music and verse. His first book of poems, Voices of the Living and the Dead, was published by the Race Today imprint in 1974. In 2002 he became the second living poet – and the only black poet – to be published in the Penguin Modern Classic Series. In the same year he appeared on BBC Radio 2’s Desert Island Discs.

His poems include Inglan Is A Bitch, and the Di Great Insohreckshan, a response to the 1981 Brixton riots. English PEN’s president and author, Gillian Slovo, described Johnson as "an artistic innovator, a ground-breaker who has used poetry to talk politics and who first gave voice to, and who continues to give voice to, the experience of moving country and of living in this one".

Johnson himself said he was "surprised and humbled" to win the prize, because his poetry is from the "little tradition" of Caribbean verse. "I hope that by conferring on me this award, English PEN will involve more black writers in its important work and that more black writers will support English PEN," he said.