The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah The Autobiography
- Submitting institution
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Brunel University London
- Unit of assessment
- 27 - English Language and Literature
- Output identifier
- 052-207638-16550
- Type
- A - Authored book
- DOI
-
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- Publisher
- Simon and Schuster (Scribner UK)
- ISBN
- 9781471168949
- Open access status
- -
- Month of publication
- May
- Year of publication
- 2018
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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0
- Research group(s)
-
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- The aim of the research was to write an autobiography that would also include an exploration of the political and cultural climate of the 1970s, 80s, 90s, through to the present. The research questions involved an exploration of the low-expectations British society held of me, a child of Caribbean immigrants and the Windrush generation, an exploration of the cultural bias in a British school and justice system that automatically set up ethnic-minority boys to fail. It explores influences and heroes, performance and activism. It's not just about me but the politics of the time.
The writing process, described in the introduction, included reviews of my personal diaries, four in-depth interviews with my mother. I conducted interviews with activists and musicians from the past to confirm times and dates.
My writing stems from the poetry school known as the 'dub poets' and is distinctly built on the combination of campaigning politics and humour. The research findings in this book highlight my emergence as a black artist in the racially discriminatory times of the 1970s and 1980s. The research unearths the background and process to my poetry, documenting events with links to poems intertwined with the politics of the time. It reflects on the development of performance and poetry as a force for change.
The book launched alongside the Life and Rhymes Tour (2018/2019) – linking the text with poetry reading and audience questions. This led to a four-part show Life & Rhymes for Sky Arts showcasing spoken-word performance.
Promotion led to an extended interview with Channel 4 news. Nominated for the National Book Awards and the Costal Book Awards. Narrated as BBC Book of the week. Film rights have been acquired.
Contextual information on USB:
Tour of Life and Rhymes
TV Series
Selected media coverage
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -
