“A multicultural poet”

Benjamín Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah, better known as Benjamín Zephaniah, is a British poet with Jamaican roots, and Christian, Jewish and Muslim names. He has been writing poems and novels mainly related to human rights, racial prejudices and polution for almost four decades. Moreover, from time to time he goes on tour to play his own songs, which are a mixture of Jazz, Reggae, Hip Hop, Rock and House rythms.

He wants to take poetry everywhere, but he wishes everybody could understand his personal viewpoint, ideas and thoughts. Therefore, he uses common words, simple and touchy expressions to get people´s attention. Indeed, he writes poems to be read by adults, adolescents and children.

If you take a look at his works, you will appreciate his peculiar informal but sensitive touch. Some of his relevant boks are: “Talking Turkeys”, “Too Black”, “Too Strong”,
“Propa Propaganda”, “Wicked World”. There are many poems to read and enjoy in the official web site www.benjaminzephaniah.com, but, I recommend you to pay especial attention to the poems entitled “Everybody is doing it” and “The British (serves 60 million)” written for children but pretty useful for everybody´s consciences.

Lorna