Benjamin Zephaniah

Benjamin Zephaniah was born and raised in Handsworth, Birmingham. He has gone on to become one of Britain’s most loved and admired poets. He is also a playwright, musician, author, social commentator and actor, collecting no fewer than 16 honorary doctorates and having a wing of Ealing Hospital named after him in recognition of his writing achievements. He was listed number 48 in the Times’ list of 50 greatest post war authors.

Zephaniah’s work is strongly influenced by his Rastafarian beliefs and he was the first person to record music with Bob Marley’s legendary band The Wailers after Marley’s untimely death, personally introducing him to Nelson Mandela himself. He has said that his mission is to fight the dead image of poetry in academia and “take it everywhere”. His poetry is political, musical, radical, relevant and most importantly accessible.

More recently he has appeared in the Birmingham-based TV show Peaky Blinders as street preacher Jeremiah Jesus, created around a real Birmingham character who fought with a Birmingham battalion in WW1. Zephaniah is the only actor on the set who actually comes from Birmingham!

His 2018 autobiography ‘The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah’ is the truly inspirational and extraordinary story of his life from dyslexic educational misfit to poetic icon and he pulls no punches on his lifelong struggle against racism and intolerance in all its forms. Zephaniah is an unmissable event at Bewdley Festival and his performance will recount events from his autobiography along with some brilliant poems and insightful social commentary.