Profile via TMDB · Courtesy of TMDB
Benjamin Zephaniah
Sign in to saveAlso known as Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah, Benjamin Springer
British poet (1958–2023)
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1958
- Died
- 2023
- Works
- 59
Top works
- Let Dem Know
- A Poem in the Sky
- A Poem in the Sky
- Verbal Riddim
- The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah
via Open Library + Wikidata
Film & TV
Acting · Handsworth, Birmingham, England, UK
Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah (April 15, 1958 - December 7, 2023) was a British writer, dub poet and Rastafarian. He was included in The Times list of Britain's top 50 post-war writers in 2008.
Known for
- Peaky Blinders: Rambert’s The Redemption of Thomas Shelby — Narrator2024
- Cold War Steve Meets the Outside World — Self2020
- Life & Rhymes — Himself2020
- The Big Narstie Show — Self2018
- Frankie Boyle's New World Order — Self2017
- Peaky Blinders — Jeremiah Jesus2013
- Celebrity Antiques Road Trip — Self - Participant2011
- Making the Connection — Himself2010
- PS Your Mystery Sender2010
- The Big Questions — Self2007
via TMDB
Music · MusicBrainz
- Type
- Person
- Gender
- Male
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Active from
- 1958
- Active to
- 2023
Discography
via MusicBrainz · CC0
Listeners · Last.fm
- Listeners
- 11,505
- Total plays
- 70,580
Tags
Benjamin Zephaniah (born Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Springer in Handsworth, Birmingham, on 15 April 1958; died 7 December 2023) was a British writer, dub poet, actor, musician and professor of poetry and creative writing. He was the first person to record with the Wailers after the death of Bob Marley in a musical tribute to Nelson Mandela. One Little Indian Records released the 'Naked' album on 2006. Previous records by Benjamin Zephaniah are Dub Ranting, Rasta LP, Free South Africa and Back to R
Recent publications · Crossref
5 total works indexed
- Fiji: an open-source platform for biological-image analysis
· 2012 · cited 66,746x
- Gene set enrichment analysis: A knowledge-based approach for interpreting genome-wide expression profiles
· 2005 · cited 48,765x
- DADA2: High-resolution sample inference from Illumina amplicon data
· 2016 · cited 32,805x
- PLINK: A Tool Set for Whole-Genome Association and Population-Based Linkage Analyses
· 2007 · cited 31,374x
- Reproducible, interactive, scalable and extensible microbiome data science using QIIME 2
· 2019 · cited 20,832x
via Crossref · CC0
Quotes
- “Someone said that Capitalism will eat itself, and I think that’s like the meat industry, the meat industry itself will become dead meat and compassion will reign supreme.”
- “I thought, OBE me? Up yours, I thought. I get angry when I hear that word "empire"; it reminds me of slavery, it reminds of thousands of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised.”
- “As the only black kid in my primary school playground, animals had become my friends. By 15 I was vegan, although I didn't give up honey until 16. For a while my mother thought it was just "a rasta phase".”
- “I can honestly say I've not been tempted to give up veganism in 27 years. I sometimes smell a chip shop and like the smell but then feel guilty because fish might be part of it. But I'll go home and make vegan chips.After all these years, my favourite food is my mother's butter bean stew with whole potatoes, yam and dasheen. I don't think I've ever made a meal for her, to be honest. I think she would consider it a failing of her motherhood and say "Boy, get out the kitchen."”
- “When I start, I have a story that tends to have a lesson to be learnt. A lot of the time my novels are called novels for young adults and I think one of the reasons they are popular with young adults is because they read them and understand it…”
- “I've got no bodies inside me All of me is me, I will not eat no body else So I am what you see. I do not plan to eat young sheep I will not eat a hen, I'm so proud of what I am I must say once again.”
via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA
Key facts
- Born
- Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah , ( 1958-04-15 ) 15 April 1958, Handsworth , Birmingham, England
- Died
- 7 December 2023 (2023-12-07) (aged 65)
- Occupation
- Poet playwright author actor
- Genre
- Poetry teen fiction
- Literary movement
- Rastafari movement postcolonialism postmodernism
- Years active
- 1980–2023
- Spouses
- Amina ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1990 ; divorced</span>"}]]}'>div. 2001 ) Qian Zephaniah ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 2017 )
via Wikipedia infobox
~25 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Zephaniah reciting a poem in 2015
Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah (15 April 1958 – 7 December 2023) was a British writer, dub poet, actor, musician and professor of poetry and creative writing. Over his lifetime, he was awarded 20 honorary doctorates in recognition of his contributions to literature, education, and the arts. He was included in The Times list of Britain's top 50 post-war writers in 2008. In his work, Zephaniah drew on his lived experiences of incarceration, racism and his Jamaican heritage.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Benjamin Zephaniah” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.