Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah (15 April 1958 – 6 December 2023)[1] was a British Jamaican writer, dub poet and Rastafarian. He was included in The Times list of Britain's top 50 post-war writers in 2008.
Zephaniah was a young black boy who had dyslexia and encountered Racism at his new school in Birmingham. He grew up in Handsworth up until the age of 9 when his mother who was also a Jamaican nurse who fled from his father who was a postman back in Barbados. Leaving his twin sister Velda and other siblings Zephaniah felt isolated as being a young black boy with a disability
Zephaniah faced prejudice frequently while residing in London and was involved in the racial riots of the 1980s: "They happened all around me. Racism was really evident back then. The National Front opposed foreigners and people of color, and the police were also very racist.
Zephaniah died on 6 December 2023 because of a brain tumor at the age of 65.[2]
References
↑Gregory, Andy (2002), International Who's Who in Popular Music 2002, Europa, p. 562. ISBN1-85743-161-8.
