BENJAMIN

ZEPHANIAH

By: George, Izzi, Kiki, Tolly,

Toby
 BENJAMIN
ZEPHHANIAH'S
UPBRINGING

Zephaniah was born and raised in the Handsworth district of

Birmingham, England,[3] which he has called the "Jamaican
capital of Europe".[4] He is the son of a Barbadian postman and a
Jamaican nurse.[5][6] A dyslexic, he attended an approved school
e
but left aged 13 unable to read or write.[6] During his childhood
he was given an old, manual typewriter which he says inspired
him to become a writer. It is now in the collection of
Birmingham Museums Trust.[7]
 BIOGRAPHY

• He was born in 1958 in Birmingham, England, but grew up for a while in

Jamaica, in his parents' homeland.
• His full name is Benjamin Obadiah lobal Zephaniah.
• His mother is a nurse, and his father works as a postman.
• His mother was born in Jamaica, while his father was born in Barbados.
 • His father was a postman from Barbados and his
mother was a nurse from Jamaica
• He had a twin sister Velda and other siblings
• Zephaniah is a masculine name of Hebrew origin
BEJAMIN ZEPHANIAH HISTORICAL
FA M I LY R O O T S that means "hidden by God." This is a biblical name
shared with minor prophet in the Hebrew Bible and
its meaning is symbolic of God's protection.
 ZEPHANIAH'S EXPERIENCE

He was caught in the 1980s in London during a race riot

He had experience rasicm at london

Quote from Zephaniah “They happened around me. Back then, racism
was very in your face. There was the National Front against black and
foreign people and the police were also very racist.”

He is a vegan when he was 13, because he had empathy with animals.

source ： https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Zephaniah
 • Benjamin Said that he wanted people to go
away from reading his book feeling that they
understand the world the way he sees it
• He wrote about the many social problems that
people were facing in the early 1980s, such as
unemployment and homelessness
THE PUPOUSE O F BE NJA MI N
ZEPHANIAH WRI TI N G • The purpose of Bejamin Zephaniah writing
is to teach people that everybody is equal and
to show that you do not have to be academic
Benjamin strongly opposes the idea that poetry
is only for people in academia. He believes
to be able to read and write
that poetry should be for everyone, regardless
of their age, race or ability to read and write.
Therefore, Benjamin began performing dub
poetry; a form of performance poetry which
originated in Jamaica in the 1970s.
THANK YOU FOR
LISTERNING