Edward Ragg

Edward Ragg is a poet, critic, Master of Wine (MW) and former Professor at Tsinghua University. Originally from the UK, since 2007 he has lived in Beijing. Edward won the 2012 Cinnamon Press Poetry Award and his first collection, 'A Force That Takes' (Cinnamon Press, 2013) drew on both his British and Chinese experience. His second book of poetry, 'Holding Unfailing' (Cinnamon Press, 2017), reflects on the rise of a resurgent mainland China. This was followed by 'Exploring Rights' (Cinnamon Press, 2020), a more experimentally and stylistically diverse collection that confronts 'post-truth' culture and the prospects of humankind's survival. 'And Then the Rain Came' (Cinnamon Press, 2022), Ragg's fourth collection, went on to explore physical and mental geographies in the contexts of the COVID and climate crises with rain serving as a motif for arresting present perception.

Selections from Edward's poetry have appeared in 'The 2014 Forward Book of Poetry' (Faber & Faber, 2013), 'Lung Jazz: Young British Poets for Oxfam' (Eyewear Publishing/Cinnamon Press, 2012), 'Jericho & Other Stories & Poems' (Cinnamon Press, 2012), 'Visiting Wallace: Poems Inspired by the Life and Work of Wallace Stevens' (Iowa University Press, 2009) and 'New Poetries IV' (Carcanet Press, 2007). More recently, he contributed to 'Arrival at Elsewhere' (Against the Grain Press, 2020), a book-length poem assembled by Carl Griffin drawing on lines collected from 100 poets in response to the global pandemic.

He has also published poems in Aesthetica, Acumen, Agenda, BODY, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, Cordite Poetry Review, Critical Quarterly, Envoi, Orbis, Other Poetry, Papercuts, PN Review, Poetry Quarterly, Seam, Spittoon, The New Writer, Three Line Poetry and other magazines.

An expert on the work of American poet - and wine tippler - Wallace Stevens, Ragg was co-editor, with Bart Eeckhout, of 'Wallace Stevens across the Atlantic' (Palgrave, 2008) and is author of 'Wallace Stevens and the Aesthetics of Abstraction' (Cambridge University Press, 2010). He is an editorial board member of 'The Wallace Stevens Journal', which he has also co-edited.

A former Captain of the Cambridge University Wine Tasting Team and former Fellow of the Rothermere American Institute, Oxford University, Ragg is co-founder, with his wife Fongyee Walker MW (Master of Wine), of Dragon Phoenix Wine Consulting (www.dpclass.cn). Ragg's wine writing has appeared in Decanter Magazine, The World of Fine Wine, Harpers Wine & Spirit, The Drinks Business, Meininger's Wine Business International, Spirito diVino Asia and on wine sites Decanter.com, Catavino, Enobytes and Visit Vineyards as well as within publications in mainland China. Edward is brother to Michael Ragg who runs Burgundy domaine and negociant-eleveur Mischief & Mayhem (with his wife Fiona).

Edward has taught at Cambridge and Tsinghua Universities and created the first course in wine at Tsinghua as well as assisting in the foundation of the Tsinghua University Wine Association (est. 2012). He became a Master of Wine (MW) in 2019, winning the Robert Mondavi Award for the best performance in the MW Theory exams and the Quinta do Noval Award for the best MW research paper (2019 examination).