Benjamin Zephaniah is a British Jamaican Rastafarian writer and dub poet. He was strongly influenced by Jamaican music and poetry from a young age. He left school at 13 and published his first poetry book at 22 after moving to London to reach a wider audience through performance. Zephaniah is a well-known contemporary English author who was included in The Times' list of top 50 post-war writers.

1. Benjamin zephaniah biography

2. information Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah (born 15 April 1958, Birmingham, England) is a British JamaicanRastafarian writer and dub poet. He is a well-known figure in contemporary English literature, and was included in The Times list of Britain's top 50 post-war writers in 2008

3. childhood My poetry is strongly influenced by the music and poetry of Jamaica and I can't remember a time when I was not creating poetry. This had nothing to do with school where poetry meant very little to me, in fact I had finished full time education at the age of 13. I wanted to reach more people so at the age of 22 I headed south to London where Page One Books published my first book Pen Rhythm. My mission was to take poetry everywhere and I was able to do this through performing my poems directly to the people.

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5. VIDEO http://youtu.be/v4AgPSjzXkw

6. RHYMIN "Talking Turkeys Too Black, Too Strong Be nice to you turkeys dis christmasCos' turkeys just wannahav funTurkeys are cool, turkeys are wickedAn every turkey has a Mum.Be nice to yu turkeys dis christmas,Don't eat it, keep it alive,It could be yu mate, an not on your plateSay, Yo! Turkey I'm on your side.I got lots of friends who are turkeysAn all of dem fear christmas time,Deywanna enjoy it, dey say humans destroyed itAn humans are out of dere mind,Yeah, I got lots of friends who are turkeysDey all hav a right to a life,Not to be caged up an genetically made upBy any farmer... We know who the killers are, We have watched them strut before usAs proud as sick Mussolinis',We have watched them strut before usCompassionless and arrogant,They paraded before us,Like angels of deathProtected by the law.It is now an open secretBlack people do not haveChips on their shoulders,They just have injustice on their backsAnd justice on their minds,And now we know that the road to libertyIs as long as the road from slavery.The death of Stephen LawrenceHas taught us to...