Benjamin Zephaniah returns to hometown Birmingham during his national tour - The Coventry Observer

Benjamin Zephaniah returns to hometown Birmingham during his national tour

Coventry Editorial 25th Nov, 2017   0

HIGHLY acclaimed performance poet and musician Benjamin Zephaniah will stop off at his hometown Birmingham on his national tour.

He will hit the road in May for his first solo UK tour in eight years, a tour.

It will coincide with the publication of his autobiography, ‘The Life And Rhymes Of Benjamin Zephaniah’, published by Simon and Schuster on May 3.

Professor Zephaniah will be reflecting on his remarkable life during his tour.




His achievements include a close friendship with Nelson Mandela, a musical career that has included collaborations with Sinead O’Conner, and The Wailers, and his political campaigning.

Zephaniah said: “I’m looking forward to being back on the road with my new show.


“I wrote my autobiography gradually, over six years, and wanted it to be a social history of Britain.

“It charts the struggle for racial equality in Britain, how I connected our struggle to global events, my friendships with the great and the good, and the cool and the bad, and oh yes, my life as a poet.

“I’ll be sharing stories from the book when I’m on the road and look forward to visiting towns and cities across the UK in May and June 2018.

“They say you’re supposed to mellow with age – but I haven’t. If anything, I just seem to be getting more militant.”

Zephaniah was included in The Times list of Britain’s top 50 post-War writers in 2008 and was born and raised in Handsworth, in Birmingham.

By the age of 15, his poetry was popular and he moved to London at 22.

His tireless campaigning has seen him share political stages while he is an honorary patron of The Vegan Society and has received numerous honorary doctorates from British universities.

Tickets for his tour go on sale on Friday (November 17) priced £22 and £25 (London) and are available from venues.

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