Editing Benjamin Zephaniah (section)

==Written work and poetry==
[[File:Benjamin Zefaniah Dis-poetry.webm|thumb|Zephaniah performing in 2011]]
Having moved to London, Zephaniah became actively involved in a workers' co-operative in [[Stratford, London|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".<ref name=h2g2>{{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}}</ref> 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,<ref name="bio" /> sometimes with The Benjamin Zephaniah Band.<ref name=bio /><ref name="Bookseller 7 December 2023">{{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}}</ref>

His second collection of poetry, ''The Dread Affair: Collected Poems'' (1985), contained a number of poems attacking the [[United Kingdom law|British legal system]].<ref name=":0">{{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 }}</ref> ''Rasta Time in Palestine'' (1990), an account of a visit to the [[Palestinian occupied territories]], contained poetry and travelogue.<ref>{{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 }}</ref>

Zephaniah was poet-in-residence at the chambers of [[Michael Mansfield]] QC, and sat in on the inquiry into [[Bloody Sunday (1972)|Bloody Sunday]] and other cases,<ref>{{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}}</ref> these experiences led to his ''Too Black, Too Strong'' poetry collection (2001).<ref name="Kellaway" /> ''We Are Britain!'' (2002) is a collection of poems celebrating cultural diversity in Britain.<ref name=":0" />

He published several collections of poems, as well as novels, specifically for young people.<ref name= "British Council - Literature">{{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}}</ref> ''Talking Turkeys'' (1994), his first poetry book for children, was reprinted after six weeks.<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref> In 1999, he wrote his first novel ''[[Face (novel)|Face]]'' – a story of "facial discrimination", as he described it<ref name= "British Council - Literature" /> – which was intended for teenagers, and sold some 66,000 copies.<ref name="Bookseller 7 December 2023" /><ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.booklistonline.com/Face-By-Benjamin-Zephaniah/pid=1127093|first=Michael |last=Cart|title=Face By Benjamin Zephaniah. &#124; 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}}</ref><ref>{{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 }}</ref><!--in Achievements section In 2008 he was included in ''[[The Times]]'' list of Britain's top 50 post-war writers.<ref name=times/>--> 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."<ref>{{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}}</ref>

Zephaniah's second novel ''[[Refugee Boy]]'', about a 14-year-old [[refugee]] from [[Ethiopia]] and [[Eritrea]],<ref>{{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}}</ref> was published in August 2001. It was the recipient of the 2002 Portsmouth Book Award in the Longer Novel category,<ref name= "British Council - Literature" /><ref name="Ltd2005">{{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 (magazine)|Third Way]]|volume=28|number=5|publisher=Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd|date=Summer 2005|page=20}}</ref> and went on to sell 88,000 copies.<ref name="Bookseller 7 December 2023" /> In 2013, ''Refugee Boy'' was adapted as a play by Zephaniah's long-time friend [[Lemn Sissay]], staged at the [[West Yorkshire Playhouse]].<ref>{{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 }}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref>

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 [[John Keats|Keats]] is different. He's a one-off, and he has always been one of my favourite poets."<ref>{{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 }}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref> The same year, he was appointed professor of poetry and creative writing at [[Brunel University London]].<ref name="Guardian obituary" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.brunel.ac.uk/people/benjamin-zephaniah|title=Professor Benjamin Zephaniah {{!}} Professor - Creative Writing|publisher=Brunel University London}}</ref><ref name="Buchanunn">{{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 }}</ref>

In 2016, Zephaniah wrote the foreword to ''[[Angry White People|Angry White People: Coming Face-to-Face with the British Far Right]]'' by [[Hsiao-Hung Pai]].<ref>{{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 }}</ref>

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.<ref name="Jonasson">{{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]]}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref> The book was nominated as "autobiography of the year" at the [[British Book Awards|National Book Awards]].<ref name="bbc7dec" />

The ''[[Birmingham Mail]]'' dubbed him "The people's laureate".<ref>{{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}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref>