Benjamin Zephaniah

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Benjamin Zephaniah
Zephaniah in 2018
Zephaniah in 2018
BornBenjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah
(1958-04-15)15 April 1958
Handsworth, Birmingham, England
Died6 December 2023(2023-12-06) (aged 65)
Occupation
  • Poet
  • playwright
  • author
NationalityBritish
GenrePoetry, teen fiction
Literary movement
Years active1980–2023
Spouse
Amina
(m. 1990; div. 2001)
Website
benjaminzephaniah.com

Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah (15 April 1958 – 6 December 2023)[1] was a British Jamaican writer, dub poet and Rastafarian. He was included in The Times list of Britain's top 50 post-war writers in 2008.

Zephaniah was a young black boy who had dyslexia and encountered Racism at his new school in Birmingham. He grew up in Handsworth up until the age of 9 when his mother who was also a Jamaican nurse who fled from his father who was a postman back in Barbados. Leaving his twin sister Velda and other siblings Zephaniah felt isolated as being a young black boy with a disability

Zephaniah faced prejudice frequently while residing in London and was involved in the racial riots of the 1980s: "They happened all around me. Racism was really evident back then. The National Front opposed foreigners and people of color, and the police were also very racist.

Zephaniah died on 6 December 2023 because of a brain tumor at the age of 65.[2]

References[change | change source]

  1. Gregory, Andy (2002), International Who's Who in Popular Music 2002, Europa, p. 562. ISBN 1-85743-161-8.
  2. Creamer, Ella (7 December 2023). "British poet Benjamin Zephaniah dies aged 65". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 December 2023.

Other websites[change | change source]