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Benjamin Zephaniah citations

Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah, plus connu sous le nom de Benjamin Zephaniah, né le 15 avril 1958 à Handsworth , est un écrivain rastafarien et poète Dub anglais.

En 1968, il fait sa première performance dans une église et, dès 1973, il est reconnu pour son art dans sa ville natale.

Zephaniah publie son premier recueil de poèmes, Pen Rhythm, en 1980. Il est si bien reçu qu'il fera l'objet de trois éditions successives. Son album Rasta, où l'on entend le premier enregistrement des Wailers depuis la mort de Bob Marley ainsi qu'un hommage à Nelson Mandela, lui attire une renommée internationale. C'est à la suite de cet album qu'il est présenté à Nelson Mandela, futur président d'Afrique du Sud, alors prisonnier politique. En 1996, ce dernier lui demande de présenter le Two Nations Concert au Royal Albert Hall de Londres.

En novembre 2003, Zephaniah révèle, dans le journal The Guardian, qu'il vient de refuser d'être décoré par la reine Élisabeth II comme "Officer of the Order of British Empire" . Il explique ce geste en disant que cela le renvoie aux "milliers d'années de brutalité, cela me rappelle comment mes ancêtres ont été violés et brutalisés". Il poursuit en disant "Imprimez ça, Mr Blair, et Mme la Reine, arrêtez de parler d'empire." C'était très inhabituel de dire cela publiquement, les conventions en la matière voulant que l'on ne formule son refus du titre qu'en privé. Il dit qu'il n'avait rien, personnellement, contre la Reine et que "elle est un peu guindée mais c'est une vieille femme sympathique."

Zephaniah se décrit lui-même comme un pur végétalien. Il est membre honoraire de la Vegan Society britannique.

Il vit aujourd'hui à East Ham dans le Nord-Est de Londres et continue de se rendre régulièrement à Handsworth où vit toujours sa mère.

Au vu de son œuvre, Zephaniah a été admis comme docteur honoraire de plusieurs universités : University of North London , University of Central England , Staffordshire University , London South Bank University , University of Exeter et University of Westminster .

Le 17 juillet 2008, Zephaniah a reçu un doctorat honorifique de l'Université de Birmingham. Il a été inscrit à 48 dans la liste des 50 meilleurs écrivains d'après-guerre du Times,. Wikipedia  

✵ 15. avril 1958
Benjamin Zephaniah photo
Benjamin Zephaniah: 9   citations 0   J'aime

Benjamin Zephaniah: Citations en anglais

“As the only black kid in my primary school playground, animals had become my friends. By 15 I was vegan, although I didn't give up honey until 16. For a while my mother thought it was just "a rasta phase". … I can honestly say I've not been tempted to give up veganism in 27 years. I sometimes smell a chip shop and like the smell but then feel guilty because fish might be part of it. But I'll go home and make vegan chips. After all these years, my favourite food is my mother's butter bean stew with whole potatoes, yam and dasheen. I don't think I've ever made a meal for her, to be honest. I think she would consider it a failing of her motherhood and say "Boy, get out the kitchen."”

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Benjamin Zephaniah

"Interview: Benjamin Zephaniah" by John Hind, TheGuardian.com (18 July 2010) https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/jul/18/benjamin-zephaniah-life-on-a-plate.

“There's no vegan who is the greatest
Because all you vegans are great,
Just like the peace dove
You symbolise love,
And there is no death on your plate.”

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Benjamin Zephaniah

The Little Book Of Vegan Poems (2001)

“If the young vegan kids of our nation
Are at school and can't get vegan bites,
Then the school staff need food education
Because safe food are one of our rights.”

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Benjamin Zephaniah

The Little Book Of Vegan Poems (2001)

“I've got no bodies inside me
All of me is me,
I will not eat no body else
So I am what you see.
I do not plan to eat young sheep
I will not eat a hen,
I'm so proud of what I am
I must say once again.”

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Benjamin Zephaniah

The Little Book Of Vegan Poems (2001)

“Someone said that Capitalism will eat itself, and I think that’s like the meat industry, the meat industry itself will become dead meat and compassion will reign supreme.”

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Benjamin Zephaniah

"Zephaniah Speaks: Poetic Thoughts", interview with Arkangel Magazine (2002) reported in BenjaminZephaniah.com https://benjaminzephaniah.com/poetic-thoughts/?doing_wp_cron=1519050664.5827260017395019531250.

“When I start, I have a story that tends to have a lesson to be learnt. A lot of the time my novels are called novels for young adults and I think one of the reasons they are popular with young adults is because they read them and understand it…”

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Benjamin Zephaniah

On the appeal of his writings in “Interview | Benjamin Zephaniah” https://www.thelondonmagazine.org/interview-benjamin-zephaniah/ in the London Magazine (2018 Mar 5)

“…Sometimes I’ll do these things for a couple of days then suddenly one day the poem comes out, just like that, in a couple of minutes. I might rewrite it later, a kind of fine tuning, or sometimes I’ll tell the audience it’s a new poem and just perform it to see if it works.”

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Benjamin Zephaniah

On his writing process in “Interview with Benjamin Zephaniah” https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/writers/advice/37/a-writers-toolkit/interviews-with-authors/interview-with-benjamin-zephaniah in Writers & Artists

“I have always loved playing around with words. I didn’t know it was called poetry. I was just an innocent kid messing around with words when an adult said ‘You’re a poet, be published or be damned’.”

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Benjamin Zephaniah

On the realization that he was a poet in “Interview with Benjamin Zephaniah” https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/writers/advice/37/a-writers-toolkit/interviews-with-authors/interview-with-benjamin-zephaniah in Writers & Artists

“As the only black kid in my primary school playground, animals had become my friends. By 15 I was vegan, although I didn't give up honey until 16. For a while my mother thought it was just "a rasta phase."”

Help us translate this quote
Benjamin Zephaniah

… I can honestly say I've not been tempted to give up veganism in 27 years. I sometimes smell a chip shop and like the smell but then feel guilty because fish might be part of it. But I'll go home and make vegan chips. After all these years, my favourite food is my mother's butter bean stew with whole potatoes, yam and dasheen. I don't think I've ever made a meal for her, to be honest. I think she would consider it a failing of her motherhood and say "Boy, get out the kitchen."
"Interview: Benjamin Zephaniah" by John Hind, TheGuardian.com (18 July 2010) https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/jul/18/benjamin-zephaniah-life-on-a-plate

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