Zephaniah, Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal

(1958- )

   British poet, novelist and playwright, he was born in Handsworth, Birmingham, England, left school at 13, spent much of his early life in youth correction institutions, and moved to London in 1979. He has been writer in residence at the Africa Arts Collective in Liverpool and creative artist in residence at Cambridge University; he was a candidate for the post of professor of poetry at Oxford University. He holds honorary doctorates from two British universities and advises on the place of music and art in the schools' national curriculum. He has written plays and has appeared in films. Ealing Hospital, London, named a ward after him in 1988. He helps children by speaking to them on Child Line. Some of his poetry publications: The Dread Affair: Collected Poems, 1985. Rasta Time in Palestine, 1990. City Psalms, 1992. Talking Turkeys, 1994 (for children). Funky Chickens, 1996 (for children). We Are Britain! 2002. Some of his poems: "Bought and Sold" (written in rejection to his being offered the Order of the British Empire), "Money," "Speak," "The British," "The Sun," "What Stephen Lawrence Has Taught Us" (Stephen Lawrence was a black teenager murdered in London in 1993).

   Sources: Antholog y of Twentieth-Century British and Irish Poetry. Keith Tuma, ed. Oxford University Press, 2001. Biography of Benjamin Zephania; 100 Great Black Britons (http://www.100greatblackbritons.com/bios/benjamin_zephaniah.html). British Council Arts (http://www. contemporarywriters.com). Child Line: A Short Conversation with Benjamin Zephania (http://www.childline.org.uk/extra/benjaminzephaniah.asp). Letter from Benjamin Zephania, Refusing to Accept an OBE. The Guardian, Thursday, November 27, 2003 (http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,1094011,00.html). Other: British and Irish Poetry Since 1970. Richard Caddel and Peter Quartermain, eds. Wesleyan University Press, 1999. Poemhunter (www.poemhunter.com). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The New Oxford Book of Children's Verse. Neil Philip, ed. Oxford University Press, 1996. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. Who's Who. London: A & C Black, 2005.