Benjamin Zephaniah, the British poet and author who ‘overturned the ideas of who a poet could be’, dies at 65

Benjamin Zephaniah, a groundbreaking author, professor and poet whose work has inspired the current generation of British poets and who did not shy away from topics such as racism and social justice over a career spanning more than four decades, died on Thursday. He was 65.

Mr Zephaniah died of a brain tumor diagnosed eight weeks ago, his family said in a statement.

He was born in Birmingham, England, on April 15, 1958. When he was 22, he moved to London, where a small publisher released his first book, ‘Pen Rhythm’, in 1983. Mr. Zephaniah went on to write at least 30 books, for adults, but also for teenagers and children.

His poetry was characterized by humor mixed with a strong social message, as well as his personal style and rhythm. He did not shy away from heavy topics, such as racism or environmental issues, and mentioned the climate crisis in his poetry well before many others did. Mr. Zephaniah’s work was also taught in classrooms in England, making him a recognizable name for children and adults alike.

“His poems were a plea for social justice,” says Judith Palmer, director of the Poetry Society, a British arts organization. She described them as gentle and humorous at the same time.

One such poem is “Talking turkeys“, published in 1994, in which Mr. Zephaniah mixes his kindness towards animals (he became vegan at the age of 13) with humor and rhythm:

Be nice to your turkeys this Christmas
Because the turkeys just want to have fun
Turkeys are cool, turkeys are bad
And every turkey has a mother.

He also recorded multiple albums of music and poetry, performed in venues of all sizes, and had a recurring role as the character Jeremiah Jesus on the hit show “Peaky Blinders,” set in his hometown of Birmingham, from 2013 to 2022.

Mr. Zephaniah was known for being unapologetically black and for opening the door for future generations of poets of color to use their own voices. He had a significant influence on younger generations in the British poetry community, Ms Palmer said.

“He destroyed the ideas of who could be a poet,” she said.

Mr. Zephaniah was also known for making the “British establishment somewhat uncomfortable,” said Nels Abbey, author and co-founder of the Black Writers Guild, an organization that promotes professional and emerging British writers of Black African and Black African Caribbean descent represents.

In 2003, Mr Zephaniah rejected the Order of the British Empire, which is awarded to people for achievements in various fields, as a form of protest against British imperialism. “Hang in there, Mr. Blair and Mrs. Queen,” he said at the time. “Stop talking about the empire.”

“I get angry when I hear that word ’empire’; it reminds me of slavery, it reminds me of thousands of years of cruelty,” said Mr. Zephaniah wrote in an essay in The Guardian in 2003.

Throughout his life, he embraced his identity as a black British man, wearing his hair in long locks. His work was influenced by Jamaican music and poetry, and he always focused on social justice. He was also professor of creative writing at Brunel University near London.

Mr Zephaniah was open about the racism he encountered in Britain and was known for pointing out injustices when he saw them. In 2014, as patron of the Newham Monitoring Project, a community-based anti-racism organization in London, he created the ‘Stop and Search on Trial’ campaign, demanding government accountability for the way police stopped and searched people.

“We want to make sure they do the right thing,” Mr. Zephaniah said said at the time. “We want to get young people to talk about their experiences when they are stopped, to report things and we want to make young people aware of their rights.”

He was also one of the most instantly recognizable poets in Britain. “No matter what street he was walking on,” Ms. Palmer said, “people would cross the street to greet him.”

After his death, Raymond Antrobus, a London-based poet, remembered him as “one who never kept silent.”

“He spoke out bravely, with fierce integrity and clarity,” said Mr. Antrobus, who first experienced Mr. Zephaniah’s charisma and stage presence as a young child when he attended an anti-apartheid demonstration in Parliament Square with his father in London. early nineties.

“That is such a powerful memory for me,” Mr. Antrobus said, “because it informed and instilled my entire career.”