Benjamin Zephaniah | |
|---|---|
 Zephaniah in 2018 | |
| Born | Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah 15 April 1958 Handsworth, Birmingham, England |
| Died | 6 December 2023 (aged 65) |
| Occupation |
|
| Nationality | British |
| Genre | Poetry, teen fiction |
| Literary movement | |
| Years active | 1980–2023 |
| Spouse |
Amina
(m. 1990; div. 2001) |
| Website | |
| benjaminzephaniah | |
Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah (15 April 1958 – 6 December 2023) 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.
