The sudden and untimely passing of Benjamin Zephaniah at age 65 has rightly brought reflection on his legacy as a poet and as a writer, the two fields in which he made monumental contributions.
Zephaniah’s warmth, his accessibility –- and his lyrical genius – made him a household name and a national treasure. Hear him, in 2018, on BBC Radio 3, waxing lyrical about his favourite Shakespearean moments. “In Caribbean and African folklore,” he says, “there’s a character called Anansi who’s a spider and a bit of trickster, and it’s very much like Puck.”
See him on a Channel 4 chat show sofa, two years later, as MC Big Narstie asks why he turned down an OBE. “I’ve been fighting against empire all my life,” Zephaniah replies. “How could I then go and accept an honour which puts empire on to my name?”
