In 2003, Nagra won the Smith/Doorstop Books Pamphlet Competition, leading to the subsequent publication of his Oh MY Rub!, which was the Poetry Book Society's first ever PBS Pamphlet Choice. In 2004, he won the Forward Poetry Prize for best single poem for "Look We Have Coming to Dover!". His debut book-length collection, which takes the same title, was published in 2007, when it received extremely positive reviews and was featured on television and radio, including the prominent BBC programme Newsnight Review.[5] Look We Have Coming to Dover! won the 2007 Forward Poetry Prize for best first collection,[6] the South Bank Show Decibel Award[7] and was nominated for the Costa Poetry Award, the Guardian First Book Award, the Aldeburgh Prize and the Glen Dimplex Award.
His poem, 'Look We are Coming to Dover' (2007), is now used in the Edexel 'Poem's of the Decade' A-Level Qualification.
His second collection, Tippoo Sultan's Incredible White-Man Eating Tiger-Toy Machine!!! (2012), was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize. Nagra's 2013 book, Ramayana, was also shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize. In 2014, he won the Society of Authors Travelling Scholarship Award.[8]
His poems have been published in the New Yorker,[9] Atlantic Review, The London Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, Poetry Review, Poetry London, Poetry International, The Rialto and The North.
He has performed at venues located in places such as Banff, Calgary, Toronto, Bratislava, Galle, Mumbai, Delhi, Orkney, Belfast, Dublin, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Heidelberg, St Andrews, Edinburgh, Ty Newydd and many places in England.
Nagra has been on the Board of the Poetry Book Society and the Poetry Archive. He has judged the 2008 Samuel Johnson Prize,[10] the Guardian First Book Award 2008, the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2008, the National Poetry Competition 2009, the 2010 Manchester Poetry Prize.[11] and the Costa Book Award poetry category and overall winner in 2012. He has also hosted the T. S. Eliot Poetry Readings 2009. He was the Keats House Poet-In-Residence from July 2014 to June 2015, and he was an Eton College Wisdom Scholar in November 2014.
Nagra has acted as the Lead Poetry Tutor at the Faber Academy and has run workshops all over the world. He is a regular contributor to BBC radio, and in October 2015, he became the first poet in residence for BBC Radio 4.[12] He was succeeded in this role by Alice Oswald.[13] Nagra has written articles for The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Observer, The Times of India. He teaches English[14] at Brunel University.[4]
In 2017, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.[15][16]
His poem "Singh Song!" was added to the AQA English Literature GCSE love and relationships poetry specification.[17]
Nagra was appointed chair of the Royal Society of Literature in November 2020,[18] taking over from Lisa Appignanesi, who had held the position since 2016.[19]
Nagra was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 Birthday Honours for services to literature.[20]
In 2023, Nagra wrote a spoken-word piece that was performed by actor James Nesbitt at the Coronation Concert, to mark the coronation of Charles III and Camilla.[21]
