Person Open DS/UK/12175 Zephaniah; Benjamin (15 April 1958-7 December 2023); British writer, dub poet and musician Zephaniah Benjamin 15 April 1958-7 December 2023 British writer, dub poet and musician Male (cisgender) Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah | Benjamin Springer Handsworth, Birmingham, England (born)

London, England (residence)

English Writer | Poet Black No known disability Not currently listed here Son of Oswald Springer (Barbadian postman) and Leneve Wright (Jamaican nurse) Former spouse of Amina (theatre administrator) Spouse of Qian Zheng Heterosexual Benjamin Zephaniah was a British writer, dub poet, actor, musician and professor of poetry and creative writing. He was included in The Times list of Britain's top 50 post-war writers in 2008. Described as "the people's laureate" by the Birmingham Mail, Zephaniah drew on his lived experiences of incarceration, racism and his Jamaican heritage to encourage a wide range of audiences to engage with his creative works. Zephaniah won the BBC Young Playwright's Award and was awarded at least sixteen honorary doctorates. A ward at Ealing Hospital was named in his honour. His second novel, Refugee Boy, was the recipient of the 2002 Portsmouth Book Award in the Longer Novel category. In 1982, he released an album, Rasta, which featured the Wailers performing for the first time since the death of Bob Marley, as well as a tribute to Nelson Mandela. It topped the charts in Yugoslavia, and due to its success Mandela invited Zephaniah to host the president's Two Nations Concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London, in 1996. As an actor, he had a major role in the BBC's Peaky Blinders between 2013 and 2022. A committed vegan and animal rights activist, he self-identified as an anarchist and supported changing the British electoral system from first-past-the-post to alternative vote. In 2003, he was offered appointment as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) but publicly rejected the honour, stating that: "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". Awards, Honours and Legacy: In 2003, Zephaniah was offered appointment as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, but publicly rejected it. In a subsequent article for The Guardian he elaborated upon his reaction to learning about being considered for the award and his reasons for rejecting it: "Me? 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...Benjamin Zephaniah OBE – no way Mr Blair, no way Mrs Queen. I am profoundly anti-empire." Activism and Views: Zephaniah is an honorary patron of The Vegan Society, Viva! (Vegetarians' International Voice for Animals), EVOLVE! Campaigns, the anti-racism organisation Newham Monitoring Project with whom he made a video in 2012 about the impact of Olympic policing on black communities, Tower Hamlets Summer University and is an animal rights advocate. In 2004 he wrote the foreword to Keith Mann's book From Dusk 'til Dawn: An insider's view of the growth of the Animal Liberation Movement, a book about the Animal Liberation Front. In 2007, he announced that he would be launching the Animal Liberation Project, alongside People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. He became a vegan when he read poems about "shimmering fish floating in an underwater paradise, and birds flying free in the clear blue sky". The poet joined Amnesty International in speaking out against homophobia in Jamaica, saying: "For many years Jamaica was associated with freedom fighters and liberators, so it hurts when I see that the home of my parents is now associated with the persecution of people because of their sexual orientation." Zephaniah is a Rastafari. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Zephaniah (April 2019) International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) 2nd edition - ICA 2004 ISBN 2-9521932-2-3 National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 Yes RAHSkeyte 2/5/2014 RAHAKirkbride 12/19/2023 265f4e22-b9d3-4932-a40b-080cd7bd5346