Benjamin Zephaniah's Nature Trail

About Benjamin Zephaniah

Poet, novelist and playwright Benjamin Zephaniah (1958-2023) grew up in Jamaica and the Handsworth district of Birmingham, England, leaving school at 14. He moved to London in 1979 and published his first poetry collection, Pen Rhythm, in 1980.

 Benjamin Zephaniah is an internationally renowned performance poet and acclaimed author of bestselling YA novels: Face, Gangsta Rap, Teacher's Dead, Refugee Boy and Terror Kid.

He was a Writer in Residence at the Africa Arts Collective in Liverpool and Creative Artist in Residence at Cambridge University, and was a candidate for the post of Professor of Poetry at Oxford University.

He was awarded an honorary doctorate in Arts and Humanities from the University of North London (1998), was made a Doctor of Letters by the University of Central England (1999).