Benjamin Zephaniah

{{Infobox writer

| name = Benjamin Zephaniah

| image = Benjamin Zephaniah 20181206.jpg

| caption = Zephaniah in 2018

| pseudonym =

| birth_name = Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1958|04|15}}

| birth_place = Handsworth, Birmingham, England

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2023|12|07|1958|04|15}}

| death_place =

| occupation = {{cslist|Poet|playwright|author|actor}}

| years active = 1980–2023

| genre = {{cslist|Poetry|teen fiction}}

| subject =

| movement = {{cslist|Rastafari movement|postcolonialism|postmodernism}}

| notableworks =

| spouses = {{ubl|{{marriage|Amina|1990|2001|reason=div}}|{{marriage|Qian Zephaniah|2017}}}}

| influences =

| influenced =

| website = {{URL|https://benjaminzephaniah.com/}}

| module = {{listen|pos=center|embed=yes|filename=Benjamin Zephaniah on music.mp3|title=Benjamin Zephaniah's voice|type=speech|description=Zephaniah talking about generational views of music and technology}}

}}

File:Benjamin Zephaniah - Who's Who (-Awen2015).webm

Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah (15 April 1958 – 7 December 2023) was a British writer, dub poet, actor, musician and professor of poetry and creative writing. Over his lifetime, he was awarded 20 honorary doctorates in recognition of his contributions to literature, education, and the arts. He was included in The Times list of Britain's top 50 post-war writers in 2008. In his work, Zephaniah drew on his lived experiences of incarceration, racism and his Jamaican heritage.

He won the BBC Radio 4 Young Playwrights Festival Award in 1998 and was the recipient of at least sixteen honorary doctorates. A ward at Ealing Hospital was also named in his honour. His second novel, Refugee Boy, was the recipient of the 2002 Portsmouth Book Award in the Longer Novel category. In 1982, he released an album, Rasta, which featured the Wailers performing for the first time since the death of Bob Marley, acting as a tribute to Nelson Mandela. It topped the charts in Yugoslavia, and due to its success Mandela invited Zephaniah to host the president's Two Nations Concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London, in 1996. As an actor, he had a major role in the BBC's Peaky Blinders between 2013 and 2022.

A vegan and animal rights activist, who called himself an anarchist, Zephaniah supported changing the British electoral system from first-past-the-post to alternative vote. In 2003, Zephaniah was offered appointment as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) but publicly rejected the honour, stating that: "I get angry when I hear that word 'empire'; it reminds me of slavery, it reminds of thousands of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers, brutalised".

Early life and education

Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah was born on 15 April 1958,{{cite book |last=Gregory |first=Andy |year=2002 |title=International Who's Who in Popular Music 2002 |publisher=Europa |page=562 |isbn=1-85743-161-8}}{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/dec/07/benjamin-zephaniah-obituary|title=Benjamin Zephaniah obituary|first=Peter|last=Mason|author-link=Peter Mason (journalist and author)|newspaper=The Guardian|date=7 December 2023|access-date=8 December 2023|archive-date=8 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208131249/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/dec/07/benjamin-zephaniah-obituary|url-status=live}}{{cite news |title=Benjamin Zephaniah, poet treasured as 'The people's laureate' who performed to a reggae backbeat – obituary |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2023/12/07/benjamin-zephaniah-dub-poet-reggae-novelist-birmingham/ |access-date=8 December 2023 |newspaper=The Telegraph |date=7 December 2023|via=www.telegraph.co.uk}} in the Handsworth district of Birmingham, England, where he was also raised.{{cite web |url=http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth105 |title=Benjamin Zephaniah |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071003022123/http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth105 |archive-date=3 October 2007 |publisher=British Council}} He referred to this area as the "Jamaican capital of Europe".{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/content/articles/2006/03/23/benjamin_feature.shtml|title=Handsworth Spirit|first=Mandisa|last=Gordon|publisher=BBC|date=28 October 2014|access-date=11 August 2021|archive-date=11 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811072743/http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/content/articles/2006/03/23/benjamin_feature.shtml|url-status=live}} The son of parents who had migrated from the Caribbean – Oswald Springer, a Barbadian postman, and Leneve (née Honeyghan),{{cite book| last= Zephaniah| first= Benjamin|year= 2019| title= The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah| publisher= Scribner UK | page=22|isbn= 978-1-471-16895-6}} a Jamaican nurse who came to Britain in 1956 and worked for the National Health Service{{cite web|url=https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-benjamin-zephaniah-scared-after-two-family-members-die-of-covid-19-12000752|title=Coronavirus: Benjamin Zephaniah 'scared' after two family members die of COVID-19|website=Sky News|date=5 June 2020|access-date=29 August 2024}} – he had a total of seven younger siblings, including his twin sister, Velda.{{cite news|last=Kellaway|first=Kate|author-link=Kate Kellaway|date=4 November 2001|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/nov/04/poetry.fiction|title=Dread poet's society|newspaper=The Observer|access-date=11 December 2016|archive-date=26 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161226071305/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/nov/04/poetry.fiction|url-status=live}}

Zephaniah wrote that he was strongly influenced by the music and poetry of Jamaica and what he called "street politics", and he said in a 2005 interview: {{blockquote|Well, for most of the early part of my life I thought poetry was an oral thing. We used to listen to tapes from Jamaica of Louise Bennett, who we think of as the queen of all dub poets. For me, it was two things: it was words wanting to say something and words creating rhythm. Written poetry was a very strange thing that white people did.{{cite web|url=https://highprofiles.info/interview/benjamin-zephaniah/|title=Dread Right?|first=Simon Joseph|last=Jones|website=High Profiles|date=24 May 2005|access-date=13 December 2023|archive-date=13 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231213012638/https://highprofiles.info/interview/benjamin-zephaniah/|url-status=live}}}} His first performance was in church when he was 11 years old, resulting in him adopting the name Zephaniah (after the biblical prophet), and by the age of 15, his poetry was already known among Handsworth's Afro-Caribbean and Asian communities.{{cite book |author-link=Colin Larkin (writer) |author-last=Larkin |author-first=Colin |date=1998 |title=The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae |publisher=Virgin Books |isbn=0-7535-0242-9}}

He was educated at Broadway School, Birmingham, from which he was expelled aged 13, unable to read or write due to dyslexia. He was sent to Boreatton Park approved school in Baschurch, Shropshire.{{cite news |title=Benjamin Zephaniah: Shrewsbury ex-teacher remembers 'star' pupil |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0324816ny0o |access-date=8 December 2023 |work=BBC News |date=8 December 2023}}

The gift, during his childhood, of an old, manual typewriter inspired him to become a writer. It is now in the collection of Birmingham Museums Trust.{{Cite episode |title=Aston Hall 1 |series=Antiques Roadshow |series-link=Antiques Roadshow |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0011g6p/ |access-date=11 November 2021 |network= BBC Television|date=7 November 2021 |series-no=44 |number=4 }}

As a youth, he spent time in borstal and in his late teens received a criminal record and served a prison sentence for burglary.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/28/benjamin-zephaniah-abuse-crime-peoples-poet-autobiography|title='I went off the rails': how Benjamin Zephaniah went from borstal to poet|first=Dalya|last=Alberge|newspaper=The Observer |date=28 January 2018|via=The Guardian|access-date=7 December 2023|archive-date=31 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331095603/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/28/benjamin-zephaniah-abuse-crime-peoples-poet-autobiography|url-status=live}}{{cite magazine |url=http://www.benjaminzephaniah.com/content/182.php |title=Interview with Raw Edge Magazine: Benjamin talks about how life in prison helped change his future as a poet |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090520171430/http://www.benjaminzephaniah.com/content/182.php |archive-date=20 May 2009 |magazine=Raw Edge |issue=5 |date=Autumn–Winter 1997}} Tired of the limitations of being a black poet communicating with black people only, he decided to expand his audience, and in 1979, at the age of 22, he headed to London, where his first book would be published the next year.{{cite web |url=https://benjaminzephaniah.com/biography/ |title=Biography |publisher=Benjamin Zephaniah|access-date=16 December 2023}}{{cite web|url=https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/zephaniah-benjamin-1958/|title=Benjamin Zephaniah (1958– )|website=Blackpast.org|first=Emily|last=Cousins|date=7 June 2010|access-date=17 December 2023}}

While living in London, Zephaniah was assaulted during the 1981 Brixton riots and chronicled his experiences on his 1982 album Rasta.{{cite web|url=https://www.redpepper.org.uk/culture-media/stage-screen/reforming-has-done-nothing-thats-why-im-an-anarchist/|title=' Reforming has done nothing. That's why I'm an anarchist.' An interview with Benjamin Zephaniah|website=Red Pepper|first=Anu S|last=hukla|date=10 April 2018|access-date=17 December 2023}} He experienced racism on a regular basis:{{Cite web|last=Maciuca|first=Andra|date=29 October 2019|title=Benjamin Zephaniah on Nelson Mandela, Bob Marley and race riots|url=https://www.saffronwaldenreporter.co.uk/things-to-do/benjamin-zephaniah-about-his-life-at-saffron-hall-5427336|access-date=29 April 2021|website=Saffron Walden Reporter|language=en-UK|archive-date=29 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429185702/https://www.saffronwaldenreporter.co.uk/things-to-do/benjamin-zephaniah-about-his-life-at-saffron-hall-5427336|url-status=live}}

{{blockquote|They happened around me. Back then, racism was very in your face. There was the National Front against black and foreign people, and the police were also very racist. I got stopped four times after I bought a BMW when I became successful with poetry. I kept getting stopped by the police, so I sold it.}}

In a session with John Peel on 1 February 1983 – one of two Peel sessions he recorded that year – Zephaniah's responses were recorded in such poems as "Dis Policeman", "The Boat", "Riot in Progress" and "Uprising Downtown".{{cite web|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWRwaXNcr-c|title= BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH John Peel 1st February 1983|date= 6 April 2018|via=YouTube|access-date=17 December 2023}}{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00ky24y|title=6 Music Live Hour {{!}} Benjamin Zephaniah - Archive session (1994)|website=BBC Radio 6|access-date=17 December 2023}}

Written work and poetry

File:Benjamin Zefaniah Dis-poetry.webm

Having moved to London, Zephaniah became actively involved in a workers' co-operative in Stratford, which led to the publication of his first book of poetry, Pen Rhythm (Page One Books, 1980). He had earlier been turned down by other publishers who did not believe there would be an audience for his work, and "they didn't understand it because it was supposed to be performed".{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mb6music/A34354343|title=Benjamin Zephaniah – Poet, Novelist, Playwright and Activist|website=h2g2|publisher=BBC|date=12 May 2008|access-date=9 December 2023}} Three editions of Pen Rhythm were published. Zephaniah said that his mission was to fight the dead image of poetry in academia, and to "take [it] everywhere" to people who do not read books, so he turned poetry readings into concert-like performances, sometimes with The Benjamin Zephaniah Band.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/benjamin-zephaniah-dies-aged-65|title=Benjamin Zephaniah dies aged 65|first=Sian|last=Bayley|magazine=The Bookseller|date=7 December 2023|access-date=13 December 2023|archive-date=13 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231213020555/https://www.thebookseller.com/news/benjamin-zephaniah-dies-aged-65|url-status=live}}

His second collection of poetry, The Dread Affair: Collected Poems (1985), contained a number of poems attacking the British legal system.{{Cite journal |last=Alghanem |first=Alanoud Abdulaziz |date=21 May 2023 |title=Remaking Britain: The Afro-Caribbean Impact on English Literature |url=https://namibian-studies.com/index.php/JNS/article/view/833 |journal=Journal of Namibian Studies: History Politics Culture |language=en |volume=33 |pages=2096–2118 |doi=10.59670/jns.v33i.833 |s2cid=259408168 |issn=2197-5523|doi-access=free }} Rasta Time in Palestine (1990), an account of a visit to the Palestinian occupied territories, contained poetry and travelogue.{{Cite journal |last=Sathyadas |first=Susan |url=https://ia600601.us.archive.org/29/items/9.IJELAUG20179/9.IJELAUG20179.pdf |title=Benjamin Zephaniah: Contemporary Voice of Resistance in Black Britain |journal=International Journal of English and Literature |volume=7 |issue=4 |date=2017 |pages=83–90 |doi=10.24247/ijelaug20179 |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 }}

Zephaniah was poet-in-residence at the chambers of Michael Mansfield QC, and sat in on the inquiry into Bloody Sunday and other cases,{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/nov/20/law.poetry|title=Poetic justice|newspaper=The Guardian|first=Marcel|last=Berlins|author-link=Marcel Berlins|date=20 November 2000}} these experiences led to his Too Black, Too Strong poetry collection (2001). We Are Britain! (2002) is a collection of poems celebrating cultural diversity in Britain.

He published several collections of poems, as well as novels, specifically for young people.{{cite web|url=https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/benjamin-zephaniah|title=Literature {{!}} Benjamin Zephaniah|publisher=British Council|access-date=13 December 2023|archive-date=28 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221228113620/https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/benjamin-zephaniah|url-status=live}} Talking Turkeys (1994), his first poetry book for children, was reprinted after six weeks.{{Cite web|title=BBC – Arts – Poetry: Out Loud|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/poetry/outloud/zephaniah_turkeys.shtml|access-date=29 April 2021|website=www.bbc.co.uk|archive-date=23 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423192837/http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/poetry/outloud/zephaniah_turkeys.shtml|url-status=live}}{{Cite book|last=Zephaniah|first=Benjamin|title=Talking Turkeys|url=https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/310/31023/talking-turkeys/9780141362960.html|access-date=29 April 2021|publisher=www.penguin.co.uk|date=October 2015|language=en|archive-date=29 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429185700/https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/310/31023/talking-turkeys/9780141362960.html|url-status=live}} In 1999, he wrote his first novel Face – a story of "facial discrimination", as he described it – which was intended for teenagers, and sold some 66,000 copies.{{Cite web|title=FACE by Benjamin Zephaniah (The Play) {{!}} Teaching Resources|url=https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/FACE-by-Benjamin-Zephaniah-The-Play-6162800|access-date=29 April 2021|website=www.tes.com|archive-date=29 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429185700/https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/FACE-by-Benjamin-Zephaniah-The-Play-6162800|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.booklistonline.com/Face-By-Benjamin-Zephaniah/pid=1127093|first=Michael |last=Cart|title=Face By Benjamin Zephaniah. | Booklist Online|via=www.booklistonline.com|access-date=29 April 2021|archive-date=1 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210501184403/https://www.booklistonline.com/Face-By-Benjamin-Zephaniah/pid=1127093|url-status=live}}{{Cite web |title=Children's Book Review: FACE by Benjamin Zephaniah, Author . Bloomsbury $15.95 (208p) ISBN 978-1-58234-774-5 |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-58234-774-5 |access-date=29 April 2021 |website=PublishersWeekly.com |date=November 2002 |archive-date=29 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429185700/https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-58234-774-5 |url-status=live }} Poet Raymond Antrobus, who was given the novel when he had just started attending a deaf school, has written: "I remember reading the whole thing in one go. I was very self-conscious about wearing hearing aids and I needed stories that humanised disability, as Face did. I was still struggling with my literacy at the time, and I understood Benjamin as someone who was self-taught and had been marginalised within the education system. And so he really felt like an ambassador for young people like me."{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/dec/16/benjamin-zephaniah-remembered-by-raymond-antrobus|title=Benjamin Zephaniah remembered by Raymond Antrobus|newspaper=The Guardian|first=Raymond|last=Antrobus|date=16 December 2023}}

Zephaniah's second novel Refugee Boy, about a 14-year-old refugee from Ethiopia and Eritrea,{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2015/nov/23/refugee-boy-benjamin-zephaniah-review|title=Children's books {{!}} Refugee Boy by Benjamin Zephaniah - review|author=Bethal: The Girl With the Reading Habit, DG Readers|newspaper=The Guardian|date=23 November 2015|access-date=13 December 2023|archive-date=30 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630175344/https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2015/nov/23/refugee-boy-benjamin-zephaniah-review|url-status=live}} was published in August 2001. It was the recipient of the 2002 Portsmouth Book Award in the Longer Novel category,{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JED1i510ZT8C&pg=PA20|title=High Profile: Dread Right? Simon Jones talks to Benjamin Zephaniah|magazine=Third Way|volume=28|number=5|publisher=Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd|date=Summer 2005|page=20}} and went on to sell 88,000 copies. In 2013, Refugee Boy was adapted as a play by Zephaniah's long-time friend Lemn Sissay, staged at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.{{cite web |last1=Sissay |first1=Lemn |first2=Lynette |last2=Goddard |date=1 October 2022 |url=https://www.dramaandtheatre.co.uk/features/article/refugee-boy-by-lemn-sissay |title=Refugee Boy by Lemn Sissay |website=Drama & Theatre |access-date=7 December 2023 |archive-date=1 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701064123/https://www.dramaandtheatre.co.uk/features/article/refugee-boy-by-lemn-sissay |url-status=live }}{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21753181|title=Benjamin Zephaniah's Refugee Boy steps on stage|website=BBC News|date=14 March 2013|access-date=13 December 2023|archive-date=20 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231120001248/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21753181|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/refugee-boy-west-yorkshire-playhouse-leeds-8538956.html|title=Refugee Boy, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds|first=Jonathan|last=Brown|newspaper=The Independent|date=18 March 2013|access-date=13 December 2023|archive-date=4 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004215443/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/refugee-boy-west-yorkshire-playhouse-leeds-8538956.html|url-status=live}}

In May 2011, Zephaniah accepted a year-long position as poet-in-residence at Keats House in Hampstead, London, his first residency role for more than ten years. In accepting the role, he commented: "I don't do residencies, but Keats is different. He's a one-off, and he has always been one of my favourite poets."{{Cite web |date=14 October 2011 |title=Q&A: Benjamin Zephaniah |url=http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/oct/14/benjamin-zephaniah-poet |first=Rosanna|last=Greenstreet |access-date=29 April 2021 |website=The Guardian |archive-date=1 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210501123851/https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/oct/14/benjamin-zephaniah-poet |url-status=live }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.foyles.co.uk/news/benjamin-zephaniah-to-take-up-keats-house-residency |title=Benjamin Zephaniah to take up Keats House residency |first=Benjamin |last=Zephaniah |access-date=29 April 2021|website=www.foyles.co.uk}} The same year, he was appointed professor of poetry and creative writing at Brunel University London.{{cite web|url=https://www.brunel.ac.uk/people/benjamin-zephaniah|title=Professor Benjamin Zephaniah {{!}} Professor - Creative Writing|publisher=Brunel University London}}{{cite web |last1=Buchanunn |first1=Joe |title=Professor Benjamin Zephaniah, Brunel Professor of Creative Writing, dies aged 65 |url=https://www.brunel.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/articles/Professor-Benjamin-Zephaniah-Brunel-Professor-of-Creative-Writing-dies-aged-65 |publisher=Brunel University London |date=8 December 2023 |access-date=8 December 2023 |archive-date=9 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209234305/https://www.brunel.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/articles/Professor-Benjamin-Zephaniah-Brunel-Professor-of-Creative-Writing-dies-aged-65 |url-status=live }}

In 2016, Zephaniah wrote the foreword to Angry White People: Coming Face-to-Face with the British Far Right by Hsiao-Hung Pai.{{Cite web |date=28 February 2016 |first=Benjamin |last=Zephaniah |title=Benjamin Zephaniah on fighting the far right: 'If we did nothing we would be killed on the streets' |url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/feb/28/if-we-did-nothing-we-would-be-killed-on-the-streets-benjamin-zephaniah-on-fighting-the-far-right |access-date=29 April 2021 |website=The Guardian |archive-date=28 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160228165711/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/feb/28/if-we-did-nothing-we-would-be-killed-on-the-streets-benjamin-zephaniah-on-fighting-the-far-right |url-status=live }}

Zephaniah's frank autobiography, The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah, was published to coincide with his 60th birthday in 2018, when BBC Sounds broadcast him reading his own text. "I'm still as angry as I was in my twenties," he said.{{cite magazine |last=Jonasson |first=Jonas |date=15 August 2017 |title=S&S scoops Zephaniah's memoir |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/ss-scoops-zephaniah-s-memoir-611396 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180827075419/https://www.thebookseller.com/news/ss-scoops-zephaniah-s-memoir-611396 |archive-date=27 August 2018 |access-date=27 August 2018 |magazine=The Bookseller}}{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/b0b22980 | title=The Life And Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah | publisher=BBC Sounds | date=30 April 2018 | access-date=12 February 2023}} The book was nominated as "autobiography of the year" at the National Book Awards.

The Birmingham Mail dubbed him "The people's laureate".{{cite book | url=https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/The-Life-and-Rhymes-of-Benjamin-Zephaniah/Benjamin-Zephaniah/9781471168956 | title=The Life And Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah | publisher=Simon & Schuster | date=2 May 2019 | isbn=9781471168956 | access-date=12 February 2023}}

On the publication of his young adult novel Windrush Child in 2020, Zephaniah was outspoken about the importance of the way history is represented in the curriculum of schools.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/12/black-people-history-respected-teachers-police-benjamin-zephaniah|title=Black people will not be respected until our history is respected|first=Benjamin|last=Zephaniah|newspaper=The Guardian|date=12 October 2020|access-date=14 December 2023|archive-date=14 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231214101016/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/12/black-people-history-respected-teachers-police-benjamin-zephaniah|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.booktrust.org.uk/news-and-features/features/2020/october/benjamin-zephaniah-on-new-book-windrush-child-we-have-to-learn-from-the-past/|title=Benjamin Zephaniah on Windrush Child: 'We have to learn from the past'|date=29 October 2020|first=Emily|last=Drabble|website=BookTrust|access-date=14 December 2023|archive-date=14 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231214134049/https://www.booktrust.org.uk/news-and-features/features/2020/october/benjamin-zephaniah-on-new-book-windrush-child-we-have-to-learn-from-the-past/|url-status=live}}

Acting and media appearances

Zephaniah made minor appearances in several television programmes in the 1980s and 1990s, including

The Comic Strip Presents... (1988), EastEnders (1993), The Bill (1994), and Crucial Tales (1996).{{Cite web|title=Benjamin Zephaniah|url=https://www.imdb.com/filmosearch?role=nm0954981&job_type=actor|access-date=28 April 2021|website=IMDb|language=en|archive-date=15 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231215142842/https://www.imdb.com/filmosearch/?role=nm0954981&job_type=actor|url-status=live}} In 1990, he appeared in the film Farendj, directed by Sabine Prenczina and starring Tim Roth.{{Cite web|last=Prenczina|first=Sabine|title=Farendj|date=27 March 1991|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099547/|type=Drama|others=Tim Roth, Marie Matheron, Matthias Habich, Joe Sheridan|publisher=River Films, Sofica Lumière, Trimark Entertainment|access-date=28 April 2021|archive-date=9 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509185303/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099547/|url-status=live}}

He was the "castaway" on the 8 June 1997 episode of the BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs, where his chosen book was the Poetical Works of Shelley.{{cite web |title=BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Benjamin Zephaniah |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0094495 |publisher=BBC |access-date=9 December 2023 |archive-date=4 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231104005437/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0094495 |url-status=live }}

In 2005, BBC One broadcast a television documentary about his life, A Picture of Birmingham, by Benjamin Zephaniah, which was repeated by BBC Two on 7 December 2023.{{Cite web |title=BBC One – A Picture of Birmingham, by Benjamin Zephaniah |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001bmc0 |access-date=7 December 2023 |website=BBC |archive-date=30 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220830231340/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001bmc0 |url-status=live }}

In December 2012, he was guest editor of an episode of the BBC Radio 4 programme Today, for which he commissioned a "good news bulletin".{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9781000/9781345.stm|title=Today: Monday 31st December|website=BBC Radio 4 {{!}} Today|date=31 December 2012|access-date=13 December 2023|archive-date=13 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231213081248/http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9781000/9781345.stm|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0gy84bf|title=Today Advent Calendar: 8th December|website=BBC Radio 4|date=8 December 2023|access-date=13 December 2023|archive-date=13 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231213081249/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0gy84bf|url-status=live}}

Between 2013 and 2022, Zephaniah played the role of preacher Jeremiah "Jimmy" Jesus in BBC television drama Peaky Blinders, appearing in 14 episodes across the six series.{{Cite web|last=Layton|first=Josh|date=7 January 2018|title=Peaky Blinders actor on the real-life character behind TV role|url=http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/showbiz-tv/benjamin-zephaniah-real-life-story-14117395|access-date=28 April 2021|website=BirminghamLive|archive-date=15 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231215142841/https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/showbiz-tv/benjamin-zephaniah-real-life-story-14117395|url-status=live}}

In 2020, he appeared as a panellist on the BBC television comedy quiz show QI, on the episode "Roaming".{{Cite episode |title=Roaming |series=QI |series-link=QI |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000s5xr |access-date=11 November 2021 |network=BBC Television |date= |season= |series-no=R |number=11 |transcript= |transcript-url= |archive-date=11 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211111211129/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000s5xr |url-status=live }}

Music

In 1982, Zephaniah released the album Rasta, which featured the Wailers' first recording since the death of Bob Marley as well as a tribute to the political prisoner (later to become South African president) Nelson Mandela. The album gained Zephaniah international prestige{{cite web|title=Brighton Magazine – Benjamin Zephaniah: Well Read Rastafarian Poet Comes To Lewes|url=http://magazine.brighton.co.uk/Clubs-and-Music/Reviews/Benjamin_Zephaniah_Well_Read_Rastafarian_Poet_Comes_To_Lewes/21_45_2223#a|work=Magazine.brighton.co.uk|first=Mike |last=Cobley|date=21 June 2023|access-date=18 June 2013|archive-date=15 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231215142842/https://magazine.brighton.co.uk/Clubs-and-Music/Reviews/Benjamin_Zephaniah_Well_Read_Rastafarian_Poet_Comes_To_Lewes/21_45_2223#a|url-status=live}} and topped the Yugoslavian pop charts. It was because of this recording that he was introduced to Mandela, and in 1996, Mandela requested that Zephaniah host the president's Two Nations Concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London.{{Cite web|title=Benjamin Zephaniah – Nelson Mandela {{!}} urbanimage.tv|url=https://urbanimage.photoshelter.com/image/I0000XMNIQyA3fPw|access-date=29 April 2021|website=urbanimage.photoshelter.com|archive-date=15 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231215142843/https://www.urbanimage.tv/image/I0000XMNIQyA3fPw|url-status=live}}

Zephaniah released a total of seven albums of original music.{{cite news |first=Kevin |last=Perry |title=Benjamin Zephaniah interview about Naked |url=http://thebeaverdialogues.blogspot.com/2006/03/benjamin-zephaniah-interview.html |publisher=The Beaver |date=7 March 2006 |access-date=29 September 2010 |location=London |archive-date=8 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708065705/http://thebeaverdialogues.blogspot.com/2006/03/benjamin-zephaniah-interview.html |url-status=live }}

Views

Zephaniah was connected with – and served as patron for – many organizations that aligned with his beliefs.{{cite web|url=https://benjaminzephaniah.com/biography/|title=Biography {{!}} CV Type Thing|website=Benjamin Zephaniah|access-date=16 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231126165730/https://benjaminzephaniah.com/biography/|archive-date=26 November 2023|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/benjamin-zephaniah/youth-employment-futureversity_b_1842085.html|title=Youth Unemployment: I Wanted to Use Poetry to Speak for Myself|first=Benjamin|last=Zephaniah|website=HuffPost|date=October 30, 2012|access-date=16 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216233239/https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/benjamin-zephaniah/youth-employment-futureversity_b_1842085.html|archive-date=16 December 2023|url-status=live}}

=Animal rights and veganism=

Zephaniah became a vegetarian at the age of 11,{{cite news |last1=Zephaniah |first1=Benjamin |title='I'll stop saying I don't eat meat – and tell people I don't eat animals': the thing I'll do differently in 2023 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/dec/28/benjamin-zephaniah-tell-people-i-dont-eat-animals-thing-ill-do-differently |access-date=28 December 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=28 December 2022 |archive-date=28 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221228100434/https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/dec/28/benjamin-zephaniah-tell-people-i-dont-eat-animals-thing-ill-do-differently |url-status=live }} and then became a vegan at the age of 13,{{Cite web|last=Ridgers|first=Karin|title=Benjamin Zephaniah: The Interview|url=https://www.veganfoodandliving.com/vegan-lifestyle/interviews/benjamin-zephaniah-interview/#:~:text=Turning%20vegan%20at%2013%20Benjamin,ram%20veganism%20down%20peoples%20throats%E2%80%9D.|access-date=29 April 2021|website=www.veganfoodandliving.com|date=4 July 2016|language=en-GB|archive-date=29 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429185704/https://www.veganfoodandliving.com/vegan-lifestyle/interviews/benjamin-zephaniah-interview/#:~:text=Turning%20vegan%20at%2013%20Benjamin,ram%20veganism%20down%20peoples%20throats%E2%80%9D.|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|date=17 July 2010|title=Interview: Benjamin Zephaniah|first=John|last=Hind|url=http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/jul/18/benjamin-zephaniah-life-on-a-plate|access-date=29 April 2021|newspaper=The Guardian|language=en|archive-date=1 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210501052412/https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/jul/18/benjamin-zephaniah-life-on-a-plate|url-status=live}} when he read poems about "shimmering fish floating in an underwater paradise, and birds flying free in the clear blue sky".

He was an honorary patron of The Vegan Society,{{cite web |url=http://www.vegansociety.com/html/about_us/patrons.php |title=Honorary Patrons |publisher=Vegansociety.com |access-date=10 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928042755/http://www.vegansociety.com/html/about_us/patrons.php |archive-date=28 September 2011 }} Viva!,{{cite web |title=Benjamin Zephaniah |url=https://viva.org.uk/lifestyle/living-vegan/celebrities/writers/benjamin-zephaniah/ |website=Viva! The Vegan Charity |orig-date=Original date 6 November 2020 |date=2024-02-23}} and EVOLVE! Campaigns,{{cite web |url=http://www.evolvecampaigns.org.uk/ |title=Evolve Campaigns |publisher=EVOLVE! Campaigns |access-date=10 May 2011 |archive-date=15 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231215142843/http://evolvecampaigns.org.uk/evolve/default.aspx |url-status=live }} and was an animal rights advocate. In 2004, he wrote the foreword to Keith Mann's book From Dusk 'til Dawn: An insider's view of the growth of the Animal Liberation Movement, a book about the Animal Liberation Front. In August 2007, he announced that he would be launching the Animal Liberation Project, alongside People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.{{Cite web|url=http://www.arkangelweb.org/international/uk/20070801benjaminzephaniah.php|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080417015512/http://www.arkangelweb.org/international/uk/20070801benjaminzephaniah.php|url-status=dead|title=UK {{!}} Benjamin Zephaniah set to launch 'Animal Liberation Project'|archivedate=17 April 2008|website=Arkangel Magazine|date=1 August 2007}} In February 2001, his book The Little Book of Vegan Poems was published by AK Press.{{Cite web|title=The Little Book Of Vegan Poems by Benjamin Zephaniah {{!}} Waterstones|url=https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-little-book-of-vegan-poems/benjamin-zephaniah/9781902593333|access-date=29 April 2021|website=www.waterstones.com|language=en|archive-date=29 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429185702/https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-little-book-of-vegan-poems/benjamin-zephaniah/9781902593333|url-status=live}}

=Anti-racism activism=

Zephaniah spoke extensively about his personal experiences of anti-Black racism in Britain and incorporated his experiences in much of his written work.{{Cite web|last=Morris|first=Natalie|date=26 October 2020|title=Benjamin Zephaniah: 'The racist thugs of my youth are older and wear suits now'|url=https://metro.co.uk/2020/10/26/benjamin-zephaniah-the-racist-thugs-of-my-youth-are-grown-up-and-wear-suits-now-13471030/|access-date=29 April 2021|website=Metro|language=en|archive-date=15 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231215142841/https://metro.co.uk/2020/10/26/benjamin-zephaniah-the-racist-thugs-of-my-youth-are-grown-up-and-wear-suits-now-13471030/|url-status=live}}

In 2012, Zephaniah worked with anti-racism organisation Newham Monitoring Project, with whom he made a video,{{cite web|title=Benjamin Zephaniah – Put the Number in Your Phone|url=http://www.nmp.org.uk/2012/03/benjamin-zephaniah-put-number-in-your.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120729060656/http://www.nmp.org.uk/2012/03/benjamin-zephaniah-put-number-in-your.html|archive-date=29 July 2012|access-date=14 March 2012|publisher=Newham Monitoring Project}}{{cite news|url=https://www.newhamrecorder.co.uk/news/21457155.know-civil-rights-2012-games/|title=Know your civil rights during 2012 Games|date=30 March 2012|first=Melissa|last=York|newspaper=Newham Recorder|access-date=14 December 2023|archive-date=14 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231214084649/https://www.newhamrecorder.co.uk/news/21457155.know-civil-rights-2012-games/|url-status=live}} and Tower Hamlets Summer University (Futureversity) about the impact of Olympic policing on black communities.{{cite news|url=https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/23974506.obituary-trailblazer-poet-benjamin-zephania-aged-65/|title=Obituary: 'Trailblazer' poet Benjamin Zephania dies aged 65|first=Nathalie |last=Raffray|newspaper=Ham&High|date=7 December 2023|access-date=17 December 2023}} In that same year, he also wrote about cases of racially abusive language employed by police officers and "the reality of police racism that many of us experience all the time".{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/oct/26/police-dont-work-for-us|title=The police don't work for us|first=Benjamin |last=Zephaniah|newspaper=The Guardian|date=26 October 2012}}

In November 2003, Zephaniah was offered appointment in the 2004 New Year Honours as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), for which he said he had been recommended by Tony Blair. But he publicly rejected the honour{{cite news|first=Merope|last=Mills|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/nov/27/iraq.monarchy|title=Rasta poet publicly rejects his OBE|newspaper=The Guardian|date=27 November 2003|access-date=7 June 2012|archive-date=27 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130827173437/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/nov/27/iraq.monarchy|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.citizen.co.za/news/news-world/british-poet-benjamin-zephaniah-dies-aged-65-family/|title=British poet Benjamin Zephaniah dies aged 65: family|website=The Citizen|date=8 December 2023|access-date=9 December 2023|archive-date=9 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209234816/https://www.citizen.co.za/news/news-world/british-poet-benjamin-zephaniah-dies-aged-65-family/|url-status=live}} and in a subsequent article for The Guardian, elaborated on learning about being considered for the award and his reasons for rejecting it: "Me? I thought, OBE me? Up yours, I thought. I get angry when I hear that word 'empire'; it reminds me of slavery, it reminds of thousands of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised... Benjamin Zephaniah OBE – no way Mr Blair, no way Mrs Queen. I am profoundly anti-empire."{{cite news|last=Zephaniah|first=Benjamin|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/nov/27/poetry.monarchy|title='Me? I thought, OBE me? Up yours, I thought'|newspaper=The Guardian|date=27 November 2003|access-date=11 December 2016|archive-date=10 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200510164039/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/nov/27/poetry.monarchy|url-status=live}}{{Cite news |first=Merope |last=Mills |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk_news/story/0,3604,1094118,00.html |title=Rasta poet publicly rejects his OBE |newspaper=The Guardian |date=27 November 2003 |access-date=11 December 2016 |archive-date=15 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231215142842/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/nov/27/iraq.monarchy |url-status=live }}

= Other activism =

Zephaniah spoke in favour of a British Republic and the dis-establishment of the Crown.{{cite web |url=http://www.republic.org.uk/tv/?p=10 |title=Statement of Principles |publisher=Republic |date=29 April 2011 |access-date=10 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090803170043/http://www.republic.org.uk/tv/?p=10 |archive-date=3 August 2009}} In 2015, he called for Welsh and Cornish to be taught in English schools, saying: "Hindi, Chinese and French are taught [in schools], so why not Welsh? And why not Cornish? They're part of our culture."{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-33840692|title=Benjamin Zephaniah calls for English schools to teach Welsh|work=BBC News|date=10 August 2015|access-date=27 August 2018|archive-date=9 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209234818/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-33840692|url-status=live}}

Zephaniah supported Amnesty International in 2005, speaking out against homophobia in Jamaica, saying: "For many years Jamaica was associated with freedom fighters and liberators, so it hurts when I see that the home of my parents is now associated with the persecution of people because of their sexual orientation."{{cite web |title=Jamaica: Benjamin Zephaniah calls on Jamaicans everywhere to stand up against homophobia |url=https://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=16161 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120903222159/http://amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=16161 |date=9 June 2005 |archive-date=3 September 2012 |access-date=12 October 2012| publisher=Amnesty International}}

In 2016, Zephaniah curated We Are All Human, an exhibition at London's Southbank Centre presented by the Koestler Trust, which exhibited art works by prisoners, detainees and ex-offenders.{{cite web|last1=Bankes|first1=Ariane|title=Why we need to free art by prisoners from behind bars|url=https://www.apollo-magazine.com/why-we-need-to-free-art-by-prisoners-from-behind-bars/|access-date=31 January 2019|website=Apollo Magazine|date=8 January 2018|archive-date=1 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190201013501/https://www.apollo-magazine.com/why-we-need-to-free-art-by-prisoners-from-behind-bars/|url-status=live}}

Zephaniah was a supporter of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and joined demonstrations calling for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, describing the activism as the "Anti Apartheid movement". He was also a supporter of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement.{{Cite web|last=Sagir|first=Ceren|date=12 May 2019|title=Thousands in London call for an end to Israeli occupation of Palestine|url=https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/w/thousands-in-london-call-for-an-end-to-israeli-occupation-of-palestine|access-date=14 July 2020|website=Morning Star|language=en|archive-date=14 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200714040421/https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/w/thousands-in-london-call-for-an-end-to-israeli-occupation-of-palestine|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|last=Bratu|first=Alex|date=7 May 2019|title=Birmingham poet Benjamin Zephaniah backs national demonstration for Palestine|url=https://www.iambirmingham.co.uk/2019/05/07/birmingham-poet-benjamin-zephaniah-backs-national-demonstration-for-palestine/|access-date=14 July 2020|website=I Am Birmingham|archive-date=17 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200717040935/https://www.iambirmingham.co.uk/2019/05/07/birmingham-poet-benjamin-zephaniah-backs-national-demonstration-for-palestine/|url-status=live}}

=Political views=

Zephaniah self-identified as an anarchist;{{cite news |last=Zephaniah |first=Benjamin |date=June 2019 |title=Why I Am an Anarchist |url=http://dogsection.org/why-i-am-an-anarchist/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190621013239/http://dogsection.org/why-i-am-an-anarchist/ |archive-date=21 June 2019 |website=Dog Section Press}} observing in a 2022 interview: "...there are places that live without government and live peacefully and happily. A lack of power means people of course aren't fighting over it and the main objective of society is to look after each other."{{cite web|url=https://www.palatinate.org.uk/benjamin-zephaniah-i-can-make-people-think-and-change-their-minds/|title=Benjamin Zephaniah: 'I can make people think and change their minds'|website=Palatinate|first=Arjun|last=Seth|date=27 October 2022|access-date=17 December 2023}} He appeared in literature to support changing the British electoral system from first-past-the-post to alternative vote for electing members of parliament to the House of Commons in the Alternative Vote referendum in 2011.{{cite news | url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12950712 | title= Benjamin Zephaniah 'airbrushed from Yes to AV leaflets' | work= BBC News | date= 3 April 2011 | access-date= 20 June 2018 | archive-date= 24 November 2018 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181124222108/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12950712 | url-status= live }} In a 2017 interview, commenting on the ongoing Brexit negotiations, Zephaniah stated: "For left-wing reasons, I think we should leave the EU but the way that we're leaving is completely wrong."{{cite web |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2017/12/benjamin-zephaniah-qa-my-first-racist-attack-was-brick-back-head |title=Benjamin Zephaniah Q&A: 'My first racist attack was a brick in the back of the head' |author= |date=4 December 2017 |website=New Statesman |access-date=9 December 2017 |archive-date=10 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200510164205/https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2017/12/benjamin-zephaniah-qa-my-first-racist-attack-was-brick-back-head |url-status=live }}

In December 2019, along with 42 other leading cultural figures, he signed a letter endorsing the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership in the 2019 general election. The letter stated: "Labour's election manifesto under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership offers a transformative plan that prioritises the needs of people and the planet over private profit and the vested interests of a few."{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/03/vote-for-hope-and-a-decent-future|title=Letters {{!}} Vote for hope and a decent future|newspaper=The Guardian|date=3 December 2019|access-date=4 December 2019|archive-date=3 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191203234134/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/03/vote-for-hope-and-a-decent-future|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last=Proctor|first=Kate|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/03/coogan-klein-lead-cultural-figures-backing-corbyn-labour|title=Coogan and Klein lead cultural figures backing Corbyn and Labour|newspaper=The Guardian|date=3 December 2019|access-date=4 December 2019|archive-date=11 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200911180550/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/03/coogan-klein-lead-cultural-figures-backing-corbyn-labour|url-status=live}}

Achievements and recognition

File:Benjaminzephaniahcamff.jpg 2008, with Martin Carthy looking on]]

In 1998, Zephaniah was a winner of the BBC Young Playwrights Festival Award with his first ever radio play Hurricane Dub.{{cite web |title=BBC Radio Young Writers: 25 Years On |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01jhnmc/p01jhmr9 |access-date=17 December 2023 |publisher=BBC Radio 4}}

In 1999, he was the subject of an illustrated biographical children's book by Verna Wilkins, entitled Benjamin Zephaniah: A Profile, published in the Black Stars Series of Tamarind Books.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1KHDOQAACAAJ|title=Benjamin Zephaniah: A Profile|first=Verna|last=Wilkins|publisher=Tamarind|location=London|isbn=9781870516389|date=1999}}

Zephaniah was awarded at least 16 honorary doctorates,{{cite web |title=Benjamin Zephaniah |url=https://earthackney.co.uk/performers/benjamin-zephaniah/ |website=Evolutionary Arts Hackney |access-date=7 December 2023 |archive-date=30 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630171944/https://earthackney.co.uk/performers/benjamin-zephaniah/ |url-status=live }} by institutions including the University of North London (in 1998), the University of Central England (1999), Staffordshire University (2001),{{cite web|title=Recipients of Honorary Awards|url=http://www.staffs.ac.uk/about/honoraries/index.jsp|publisher=Staffordshire University|access-date=16 April 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130222121807/http://staffs.ac.uk/about/honoraries/index.jsp|archive-date=22 February 2013}} London South Bank University (2003), the University of Exeter, the Open University (2004),{{Cite web |title=Honorary Degrees |url=https://www5.open.ac.uk/students/ceremonies/hon-degrees |website=Open University |access-date=7 December 2023 |archive-date=8 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230608024657/https://www.open.ac.uk/students/ceremonies/hon-degrees |url-status=live }}, Birmingham City University (2005), the University of Westminster (2006), the University of Birmingham (2008){{cite news |last=Collins |first=Tony |url=http://www.birminghammail.net/news/birmingham-news/2008/07/11/university-honour-for-doug-eliis-97319-21326336/ |title=University honour for Doug Eliis |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120722023249/http://www.birminghammail.net/news/birmingham-news/2008/07/11/university-honour-for-doug-eliis-97319-21326336/ |archive-date=22 July 2012 |work=Birmingham Mail |date=11 July 2008}} and the University of Hull (DLitt, 2010).{{cite web |title=Honorary Graduates |url=https://www.hull.ac.uk/choose-hull/university-and-region/honorary-graduates |publisher=University of Hull |access-date=9 December 2023 |archive-date=9 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209234819/https://www.hull.ac.uk/choose-hull/university-and-region/honorary-graduates |url-status=live }}

In 2008, he was listed at 48 in The Times list of 50 greatest post-war writers.{{cite news |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3127383.ece |title=Benjamin Zephaniah |work=TimesOnline UK |date=5 January 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615153530/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3127383.ece |archive-date=15 June 2011 }} A ward at Ealing Hospital was named in his honour.

He was awarded Best Original Song in the Hancocks 2008, Talkawhile Awards for Folk Music (as voted by members of Talkawhile.co.uk{{cite web |url=http://www.talkawhile.co.uk/ |title=TalkAwhile UK Acoustic music forum |publisher=Talkawhile.co.uk |access-date=10 May 2011 |archive-date=26 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926005306/http://www.talkawhile.co.uk/ |url-status=live }}) for "Tam Lyn Retold", recorded with The Imagined Village project on their eponymous 2007 album. He collected the award at The Cambridge Folk Festival on 2 August 2008, describing himself as a "Rasta Folkie".{{cite web |url=http://www.talkawhile.co.uk/yabbse/index.php?topic=26229.0 |title=Best Original Song |publisher=Talkawhile.co.uk |date=3 August 2008 |access-date=10 May 2011 |archive-date=5 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005003842/http://www.talkawhile.co.uk/yabbse/index.php?topic=26229.0 |url-status=live }}

To mark National Poetry Day in 2009, the BBC ran an online poll to find the nation's favourite poet, with Zephaniah taking third place in the public vote, behind T. S. Eliot and John Donne, and being the only living poet to be named in the top 10.{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-eliot-idUKTRE5974KZ20091008/|title=T.S. Eliot voted Britain's favourite poet in BBC poll|work=Reuters|date=8 October 2009|access-date=16 December 2023}}{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/poetryseason/vote_results.shtml|title=The Nation's Favourite Poet Result - TS Eliot is your winner!|website=bbc.co.uk/poetryseason|publisher=BBC|access-date=16 December 2023}}

Zephaniah's 2020 reality television series Life & Rhymes, on Sky Arts, celebrating spoken-word performances,[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14540504/ "Life & Rhymes"] on IMDb.{{cite web|url=https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/entertainment/life-and-rhymes-how-to-watch/|title=How to watch BAFTA-winning Life & Rhymes|website=radiotimes.com|date=7 June 2021|access-date=9 December 2023|archive-date=7 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210607183142/https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/entertainment/life-and-rhymes-how-to-watch/|url-status=live}} won a British Academy Television Award (BAFTA), the Lew Grade Award for Best Entertainment Programme, in 2021.{{cite web|url=https://www.skygroup.sky/article/bafta-award-winning-sky-original-life-rhymes-returns-for-a-second-series-on-sky-arts|title=BAFTA Award winning Sky Original Life & Rhymes returns for a second series on Sky Arts|website=Sky|date=18 June 2021|access-date=9 December 2023|archive-date=13 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230213123100/https://www.skygroup.sky/article/bafta-award-winning-sky-original-life-rhymes-returns-for-a-second-series-on-sky-arts|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.bafta.org/television/awards/tv-2021|title=BAFTA TV 2021: The Winners and Nominations for the Virgin Media British Academy Television Awards and British Academy Television Craft Awards|website=BAFTA|date=28 April 2021 |access-date=9 December 2023|archive-date=7 June 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210607092041/https://www.bafta.org/television/awards/tv-2021|url-status=live}}

In April 2025, Brunel University held a Benjamin Zephaniah Day in a campus space newly named in his honour. His wife Qian Zephaniah, Michael Rosen, Jeremy Corbyn and Linton Kwesi Johnson attended.{{Cite news |date=May 2025 |title=Brunel honours Zephaniah with special celebration |work=The Voice |pages=3}}

In May 2025, Birmingham City University renamed the former University House in honour of Zephaniah.{{cite web |last1=Asokan |first1=Shyamantha |title=University names building after Benjamin Zephaniah |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8e6pge6846o |website=BBC News |access-date=19 May 2025}}

Personal life

Zephaniah lived for many years in east London; however, in 2008, he began dividing his time between a village near Spalding, Lincolnshire, and Beijing in China.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jan/18/benjamin-zephaniah-interview-poet|first=Lynn|last=Barber|author-link=Lynn Barber|title=The interview: Benjamin Zephaniah|newspaper=The Observer|date=18 January 2009|access-date=11 December 2016|archive-date=30 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160330104801/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jan/18/benjamin-zephaniah-interview-poet|url-status=live}} He was a keen language learner and studied Mandarin Chinese for more than a decade.{{cite web |url=https://imlearningmandarin.com/2021/11/12/benjamin-zephaniah-on-learning-mandarin-podcast/ |title=Benjamin Zephaniah on Learning Mandarin Chinese (Podcast) |publisher=ImLearningMandarin.com |date=12 November 2021 |access-date=5 March 2022 |archive-date=5 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220305120446/https://imlearningmandarin.com/2021/11/12/benjamin-zephaniah-on-learning-mandarin-podcast/ |url-status=live }}

Zephaniah was married for 12 years to Amina, a theatre administrator. His infertility – which he discussed openly{{cite news |last1=Zephaniah |first1=Benjamin |title=Benjamin Zephaniah: I'm 64 and my infertility still brings me to tears |url=https://inews.co.uk/opinion/benjamin-zephaniah-64-infertility-tears-1772217 |access-date=8 December 2023 |work=inews.co.uk |date=5 August 2022 |language=en |archive-date=12 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812031319/https://inews.co.uk/opinion/benjamin-zephaniah-64-infertility-tears-1772217 |url-status=live }} – meant that they could not have children and his criminal record prevented them from adopting. They divorced in 2001.{{Cite news |work=The Independent |title=Arts and Books |date=19 June 2009}}

In 2017, Zephaniah married Qian Zheng, whom he had met on a visit to China three years earlier, and who survives him.

In May 2018, in an interview of BBC Radio 5 Live, Zephaniah admitted that he had been violent to a former partner, confessing to having hit her. He said:

{{Blockquote|The way I treated some of my girlfriends was terrible. At one point I was violent. I was never like one of these persons who have a girlfriend, who'd constantly beat them, but I could lose my temper sometimes... There was one girlfriend that I had, and I actually hit her a couple of times, and as I got older I really regretted it. It burned my conscience so badly. It really ate at me, you know. And I'm a meditator. It got in the way of my meditation.{{Cite web|last=Rodger|first=James|date=2 May 2018|title=Benjamin Zephaniah admits to hitting ex-girlfriend|url=https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/showbiz-tv/peaky-blinders-star-benjamin-zephaniah-14605708|access-date=28 April 2021|website=BirminghamLive |archive-date=28 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428102920/https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/showbiz-tv/peaky-blinders-star-benjamin-zephaniah-14605708|url-status=live}}}}

His cousin, Michael Powell, died in police custody, at Thornhill Road police station in Birmingham, in September 2003 and Zephaniah regularly raised the matter,{{cite news |last1=Balloo |first1=Stephanie |title=Police paid £300,000 to the family of man who died in custody |url=https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/cops-who-struck-young-dad-14897058 |access-date=7 December 2023 |work=Birmingham Live |date=11 July 2018 |quotation=Birmingham poet Benjamin Zephaniah, had said: "We have been asking questions for 10 years, protesting for 10 years, writing letters, and poems, and statements for 10 years, but most of all we have been collectively grieving for 10 years. |archive-date=18 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118173421/https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/cops-who-struck-young-dad-14897058 |url-status=live }} continuously campaigning with his brother Tippa Naphtali, who set up a national memorial fund in Powell's name to help families affected by deaths in similar circumstances.{{cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/benjamin-zephaniah-racism-police-stops-custody-deaths_uk_60869a80e4b09a22a444dc1b|title='That's What They Do To Us': Benjamin Zephaniah On His Experiences Of Police Racism|website=HuffPost|first=Emma|last=Youle|date=30 April 2021|access-date=14 December 2023|archive-date=14 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231214081956/https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/benjamin-zephaniah-racism-police-stops-custody-deaths_uk_60869a80e4b09a22a444dc1b|url-status=live}}

Zephaniah's family was Christian but he became a Rastafarian at a young age.{{cite web|first=Benjamin|last=Zephaniah|title=Has Snoop Dogg seen the Rastafari light, or is this just a midlife crisis?|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/aug/07/snoop-dogg-rastafari|work=The Guardian|date=7 August 2012|access-date=11 December 2016|archive-date=12 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312144030/http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/aug/07/snoop-dogg-rastafari|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|date=4 February 2014|first=Mischa|last=Wilmers|title=Benjamin Zephaniah: 'It is my duty to help and inspire'|url=https://newint.org/features/web-exclusive/2014/02/04/benjamin-zephaniah-interview|access-date=29 April 2021|website=New Internationalist|language=en|archive-date=29 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429185710/https://newint.org/features/web-exclusive/2014/02/04/benjamin-zephaniah-interview|url-status=live}} He gave up smoking cannabis in his thirties.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/may/06/benjamin-zephaniah-i-dont-want-to-grow-old-alone|title=Benjamin Zephaniah: 'I don't want to grow old alone'|newspaper=The Guardian|first=Joanne|last=O'Connor|date=6 May 2018|access-date=6 May 2018|archive-date=6 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180506084529/https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/may/06/benjamin-zephaniah-i-dont-want-to-grow-old-alone|url-status=live}}

He was a supporter of Aston Villa F.C. – having been taken to matches as a boy, by an uncle{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2009/may/18/seven-deadly-sins-zephaniah-villa|title=Villa fans, violence and me|first=Benjamin|last=Zephaniah|newspaper=The Observer|date=18 May 2009|access-date=11 December 2023|archive-date=11 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231211013921/https://www.theguardian.com/football/2009/may/18/seven-deadly-sins-zephaniah-villa|url-status=live}} – and was the patron for an Aston Villa supporters' website,{{cite web|title=A Poet Called Benjamin Zephaniah|url=http://www.benjaminzephaniah.com/content/14.php?image_id=1011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807062344/http://www.benjaminzephaniah.com/content/14.php?image_id=1011|archive-date=7 August 2011|access-date=10 May 2011|publisher=Benjaminzephaniah.com}} as well as an ambassador for the club's charity, the Aston Villa Foundation.{{cite web|url=https://www.avfc.co.uk/news/2023/december/07/Tribute-to-Benjamin-Zephaniah/|title=Tribute to Benjamin Zephaniah|author=Aston Villa FC|date=7 December 2023|website=avfc.co.uk|access-date=11 December 2023|archive-date=11 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231211013922/https://www.avfc.co.uk/news/2023/december/07/Tribute-to-Benjamin-Zephaniah/|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=https://www.voice-online.co.uk/news/uk-news/2023/12/08/aston-villa-pay-homage-to-lifelong-fan-benjamin-zephaniah/|title=Aston Villa pay homage to lifelong fan Benjamin Zephaniah|newspaper=The Voice|date=8 December 2023|access-date=11 December 2023|archive-date=8 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208113543/https://www.voice-online.co.uk/news/uk-news/2023/12/08/aston-villa-pay-homage-to-lifelong-fan-benjamin-zephaniah/|url-status=live}}

=Death and legacy=

Zephaniah died on 7 December 2023, at the age of 65, after being diagnosed with a brain tumour eight weeks previously.{{cite web |first=Steven |last=McIntosh |date=7 December 2023 |title=Benjamin Zephaniah: Writer and poet dies aged 65 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67646607 |website=BBC News|access-date=7 December 2023|archive-date=7 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207120516/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67646607 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |first=Alex |last=Farber |date=7 December 2023|title=Benjamin Zephaniah, writer and poet, dies aged 65 |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/benjamin-zephaniah-dead-dies-age-brain-tumour-grkvz05z7 |website=The Times|archive-url=https://archive.today/20231207123327/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/benjamin-zephaniah-dead-dies-age-brain-tumour-grkvz05z7|archive-date=7 December 2023|url-status=live}}{{Cite news |last=Creamer |first=Ella |date=7 December 2023 |title=British poet Benjamin Zephaniah dies aged 65 |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/dec/07/british-poet-benjamin-zephaniah-dies-aged-65 |access-date=7 December 2023 |issn=0261-3077 |archive-date=9 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209235700/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/dec/07/british-poet-benjamin-zephaniah-dies-aged-65 |url-status=live }} His friend of nearly twenty years, Joan Armatrading, gave a tribute to him on Newsnight on BBC Two after hearing the news of his death. Writing on Twitter, she said: "I am in shock. Benjamin Zephaniah has died age 65. What a thoughtful, kind and caring man he was. The world has lost a poet, an intellectual and a cultural revolutionary. I have lost a great friend."{{Cite tweet |last=Armatrading |first=Joan |author-link=Joan Armatrading |user=ArmatradingJoan |number=1732799022023217630 |date=7 December 2023 |title=I am in shock. Benjamin Zephaniah has died age 65. What a thoughtful, kind and caring man he was. The world has lost a poet, an intellectual and a cultural revolutionary. I have lost a great friend |access-date=8 December 2023 }}

The BBC later re-broadcast Zephaniah's documentary A Picture of Birmingham, in which he revisited his birthplace and his former approved school. Fiona Bruce, the presenter of BBC's Question Time, on which Zephaniah was a regular panellist, paid tribute to him, saying: "He was an all round, just tremendous bloke" for whom she had "huge affection and respect".{{Cite tweet |author=Question Time |author-link=Question Time (TV programme) |user=bbcquestiontime |number=1732907559462322648 |date=7 December 2023 |title='He was an all round, just tremendous bloke' Fiona Bruce pays tribute to poet Benjamin Zephaniah, a regular panellist on Question Time, who she says she had 'huge affection and respect for' |access-date=8 December 2023 |link=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001t4t5 }}

According to Martin Glynn of Birmingham City University, Zephaniah was "never an establishment person", but "got into spaces" where he felt he could be heard. Glynn said: "He was the James Brown of dub poetry, the godfather... Linton Kwesi Johnson spoke to the political classes, but Benjamin was a humanist, he made poetry popular and loved music. He had his own studio.... He did what John Cooper Clarke did with poetry and that was bringing it into the mainstream."{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-67650140|title=Benjamin Zephaniah: The James Brown of dub poetry|first=Vanessa|last=Pearce|author2=Giles Latcham|date=8 December 2023|via=www.bbc.co.uk|access-date=8 December 2023|archive-date=9 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209235700/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-67650140|url-status=live}}

The family issued a statement on 7 December regarding Benjamin Zephaniah's death, saying: "Thank you for the love you have shown Professor Benjamin Zephaniah."{{Cite web |last=Sinclair |first=Luke |date=2023-12-07 |title=Renowned British poet and Peaky Blinders star, Benjamin Zephaniah, passes away at 65 |url=https://www.herald.wales/mid-wales/ceredigion-mid-wales/Entertainment/renowned-british-poet-and-peaky-blinders-star-benjamin-zephaniah-passes-away-at-65/ |access-date=2023-12-17 |website=Herald.Wales |language=en-GB}}

Aston Villa Football Club paid tribute to Zephaniah on Saturday, 9 December 2023, in advance of their home match against Arsenal F.C., by playing on the big screens his ode to Villa, originally recorded in 2015.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YVOHu8qYSo|title=Benjamin Zephaniah: Ode to Aston Villa|date=22 July 2015|access-date=11 December 2023|publisher=BBC Sport|via=YouTube|archive-date=11 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231211013921/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YVOHu8qYSo|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/sport/aston-villa-benjamin-zephaniah-tribute-arsenal-b2461535.html|title=Aston Villa pay moving tribute to poet Benjamin Zephaniah ahead of Arsenal win|first=Oliver|last=Browning|newspaper=The Independent|date=10 December 2023|access-date=11 December 2023|archive-date=11 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231211013921/https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/sport/aston-villa-benjamin-zephaniah-tribute-arsenal-b2461535.html|url-status=live}}

His private funeral, attended by close friends and family, took place on 28 December, and it was requested that well-wishers plant flowers, trees or plants in Zephaniah’s honour, rather than sending cut flowers.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/benjamin-zephaniah-funeral-where-b2470538.html|title=Benjamin Zephaniah fans asked to plant flowers in poet's memory as funeral takes place|newspaper=The Independent|first=Roisin|last=O'Connor|date=28 December 2023}}{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/dec/28/benjamin-zephaniah-laid-to-rest-in-private-funeral|title=Benjamin Zephaniah laid to rest in private funeral|first=Nadeem|last=Badshah|newspaper=The Guardian|date=28 December 2023}}

An artwork featuring Zephaniah that appeared on the wall of an underpass in Hockley, Birmingham, in March 2024 was accidentally painted over by a council sub-contractor employed to remove graffiti, although Zephaniah's family had been given assurances that the mural would be protected.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/apr/05/apology-benjamin-zephaniah-mural-painted-over-birmingham|title=Apology after Benjamin Zephaniah mural painted over in Birmingham|first=Jessica|last=Murray|newspaper=The Guardian|date=5 April 2024}}{{cite web|url=https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/zephaniah-family-frustration-over-mural-28939753|title=Zephaniah family frustration over mural that 'took hours to create and minutes to destroy' in error|website=Birmingham Live|first=Jane|last=Haynes|date=5 April 2024|access-date=9 April 2024}} Following a public backlash,{{cite web|url=https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/backlash-hockley-mural-beloved-benjamin-28923958|title=Backlash as Hockley mural of beloved Benjamin Zephaniah painted over|first=Jane|last=Haynes|website=Birmingham Live|date=2 April 2024|access-date=11 April 2024}} an apology was issued,{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4njjvxw5jvo|title=Apology after Benjamin Zephaniah mural removed|first=Andrew|last=Dawkins|publisher=BBC News, West Midlands|date=4 April 2024|access-date=9 April 2024}}{{cite web|url=https://www.localgov.co.uk/Council-contractor-apologises-after-painting-over-Zephaniah-mural-/59159|title=Council contractor apologises after painting over Zephaniah mural|first=William|last=Eichler|website=LocalGov|date=8 April 2024|access-date=9 April 2024}} and new artwork was subsequently commissioned from black artists, to be unveiled on 14 April at Handsworth Park.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/apr/07/birmingham-mural-honours-legacy-of-poet-giant-benjamin-zephaniah|title=Birmingham mural honours legacy of poet giant Benjamin Zephaniah|newspaper=The Observer|first=Vanessa|last=Thorpe|date=7 April 2024}}{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/68759335|title=Benjamin Zephaniah mural: Tribute to be unveiled for Birmingham writer and poet|website=Newsround|publisher=CBBC|date=8 April 2024|access-date=9 April 2024}}

As a tribute, in April 2024, BBC Radio 4 broadcast the 2018 Book of the Week recording of Zephaniah reading his autobiography, The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah.{{cite web |date=April 2024 |title=The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b0prnw |access-date=9 April 2024 |website=BBC Radio 4}}

In September 2024, an outdoor space at Brunel University of London was named after Zephaniah.{{cite news |last1=Sudan |first1=Richard |title='His love was for everybody': emotional tributes as Brunel University unveils plaque to Benjamin Zephaniah |url=https://www.voice-online.co.uk/news/uk-news/2024/09/07/his-love-was-for-everybody-emotional-tributes-as-brunel-university-unveils-plaque-to-benjamin-zephaniah/ |access-date=9 January 2025 |work=Voice Online |date=7 September 2024 |language=en}} Since April 2025, Brunel University also hosts a "Benjamin Zephaniah Day" near the date of April 15 (Zephaniah's birthday).https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/apr/15/his-delivery-cut-through-class-barriers-moby-mala-and-other-musicians-on-working-with-benjamin-zephaniah

Books

=Poetry=

Pen Rhythm (1980), Page One, {{isbn|978-0907373001}}
The Dread Affair: Collected Poems (1985), Arena, {{isbn|978-0099392507}}
City Psalms (1992), Bloodaxe Books, {{isbn|978-1852242305}}
Inna Liverpool (1992), AK Press, {{isbn|978-1873176757}}
Talking Turkeys (1994), Puffin Books, {{isbn|978-0140363302}}
Propa Propaganda (1996), Bloodaxe Books, {{isbn|978-1852243722}}
Funky Chickens (1997), Puffin, {{isbn|978-0140379457}}
School's Out: Poems Not for School (1997), AK Press, {{isbn|978-1873176498}}
Funky Turkeys (audiobook) (1999), Puffin, {{asin|B07VJJ8WCX}}[https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/315907/funky-turkeys-by-zephaniah-benjamin/9780241388495 "Funky Turkeys"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231210172658/https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/315907/funky-turkeys-by-zephaniah-benjamin/9780241388495 |date=10 December 2023 }}, Penguin.
Wicked World! (2000), Puffin Random House, {{isbn|978-0141306834}}
Too Black, Too Strong (2001), Bloodaxe Books, {{isbn|978-1852245542}}
The Little Book of Vegan Poems (2001), AK Press, {{isbn|978-1902593333}}
Reggae Head (2006), spoken word audio CD, 57 Productions, {{isbn|978-1899021055}}
To Do Wid Me (2013), Bloodaxe Books, feature film by Pamela Robertson-Pearce released on DVD with accompanying book, {{isbn|978-1852249434}}

=Novels=

Face (1999), Bloomsbury (published in children's and adult editions)
Refugee Boy (2001), Bloomsbury
Gangsta Rap (2004), Bloomsbury
Teacher's Dead (2007), Bloomsbury
Terror Kid (2014), Bloomsbury{{cite book |last=Zephaniah |first=Benjamin |date=2014 |title=Terror Kid |publisher=Bloomsbury|isbn=978-1471401770}}
Windrush Child (2020), Scholastic, {{ISBN|978-0702302725}}

=Biographies=

We Sang Across the Sea: The Empire Windrush and Me (2022), Scholastic. {{ISBN|978-0702311161}} – a biography of Mona Baptiste written by Zephaniah and illustrated by Onyinye Iwu.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nIa3zgEACAAJ|last=Zephaniah |first=Benjamin |date=7 April 2022 |title=We Sang Across the Sea: The Empire Windrush and Me |others=Illustrated by Onyinye Iwu |publisher=Scholastic |isbn=978-0702311161}}

=Children's books=

We Are Britain (2002), Frances Lincoln Publishers
Primary Rhyming Dictionary (2004), Chambers Harrap
J Is for Jamaica (2006), Frances Lincoln
My Story (2011), Collins
When I Grow Up (2011), Frances Lincoln

=Other=

Kung Fu Trip (2011), Bloomsbury
The Life And Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah (2018), Simon & Schuster

=Plays=

Playing the Right Tune (1985)
Job Rocking (1987). Published in Black Plays: 2, ed. Yvonne Brewster, Methuen Drama, 1989.
Delirium (1987)
Streetwise (1990)
Mickey Tekka (1991)
Listen to Your Parents (included in Theatre Centre: Plays for Young People – Celebrating 50 Years of Theatre Centre, 2003, Aurora Metro; also published by Longman, 2007)
Face: The Play (with Richard Conlon)

Acting roles

Didn't You Kill My Brother? (1987) – Rufus
Farendj (1989) – Moses
Dread Poets' Society (1992) – himself
Truth or Dairy (1994) – The Vegan Society (UK)
Crucial Tales (1996) – Richard's father
Making the Connection (2010) – Environment Films / The Vegan Society (UK)
Peaky Blinders (2013–2022) – Jeremiah Jesus

Discography

=Albums=

Rasta (1982), Upright (reissued 1989), Workers Playtime (UK Indie #22)Lazell, Barry (1997), Indie Hits 1980–1989, Cherry Red Books, {{ISBN|0-9517206-9-4}}.
Us An Dem (1990), Island
Back to Roots (1995), Acid Jazz
Belly of De Beast (1996), Ariwa
Naked (2005), One Little Indian
Naked & Mixed-Up (2006), One Little Indian (Benjamin Zephaniah Vs. Rodney-P)
Revolutionary Minds (2017), Fane Productions

=Singles and EPs=

Dub Ranting EP (1982), Radical Wallpaper
Big Boys Don't Make Girls Cry 12-inch single (1984), Upright
Free South Africa (1986)
Crisis 12-inch single (1992), Workers Playtime

=Guest appearances=

Empire (1995), Bomb the Bass with Zephaniah & Sinéad O'Connor
Heading for the Door by Back to Base (2000), MPR Records
Illegal (2000), from "Himawari" by Swayzak
Theatricks (2000), by Kinobe
Open Wide (2004), Dubioza kolektiv (C) & (P) Gramofon
Rebel by Toddla T (2009), 1965 Records
New Dawn (2009) by Pat D & Lady Paradox{{cite web |title=Interview: Pat D & Lady Paradox |url=https://thefindmag.com/features/hip-hop-interviews/interview-pat-d-lady-paradox/ |website=The Find Mag |date=22 November 2009}}
Take A Ride and I Have A Dream (2013) by L.B. Dub Corp{{cite news |last1=Coultate |first1=Aaron |title=Luke Slater presents L.B. Dub Corp album|url=https://ra.co/news/20896 |access-date=20 February 2025 |work=Resident Advisor |date=28 August 2013 |language=en}}

References

External links

{{Official website}}
{{IMDb name}}
{{Discogs artist}}
[http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/20/british_jamaican_rastafarian_writer_dub_poet "British Jamaican Rastafarian Writer, Dub Poet Benjamin Zephaniah on Poetry, Politics and Revolution"], 20 September 2010 – video report by Democracy Now!
[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/dec/07/a-hero-to-millions-benjamin-zephaniah-remembered-michael-rosen-kae-tempest-and-more {{"'}}A hero to millions': Benjamin Zephaniah remembered by Michael Rosen, Kae Tempest and more"], The Guardian, 7 December 2023.
Deirdre Osborne, [https://www.gold.ac.uk/news/remembering-benjamin-zephaniah/ "Remembering Benjamin Zephaniah"], Goldsmiths University of London, 7 December 2023.
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