31 May at 6pm
Family event

31 May at 8.30pm
Adult event

3 June at 10am
Preview of new teen novel, 11s and over

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Benjamin Zephaniah »

Don't label Zephaniah as a writer – his work is a vital mix of poetry, performance, music and politics. Born in Handsworth in 1958, he uses the language and rhythms of Jamaica to create dub poetry. In the 1980s he became famous as a performance poet in London, appearing at demonstrations, concerts and on TV. In the 1990s, his foreign tours earned him a worldwide reputation – he has performed in every continent on the planet and feels most at home where oral culture still flourishes.

All the same, publishing loves him: his books of poems are in great demand, as are the novels he's started writing. He recently turned down an OBE, remarking that anyone who'd ever heard his poetry would know he didn't want to be associated with the injustices of British Empire.

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Benjamin Zephaniah