Too Black Too Strong is Benjamin Zephaniah's third collection from Bloodaxe. It addresses the struggles of black Britain more forcefully than all his previous books. With poems like "Chant of a Homesick Nigga" and "Kill Them Before Ramadan, " he shows that he's a poet who won't stay silent, who doesn't pull any punches, writing out of a sense of urgency and a commitment to social justice. He opens this hard-hitting and blackly funny book of poems with an outspoken comment on where he's coming from, setting his poetry against the political landscape of Britain.
Too Black, Too Strong
and over 1.5 million other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more
| |||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Learn more. |
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
About the Author
Best-known for his performance poetry with a political edge for adults - and his poetry with attitude for children - Benjamin Zephaniah has his own rap/reggae band and has made many recordings. He grew up in Jamaica and in Handsworth, Birmingham, where he was sent to an approved school for being uncontrollable, rebellious and 'a born failure', ending up in jail for burglary. After prison he turned from crime to music and poetry. In 1989 he was nominated for Oxford Professor of Poetry, and has since received honorary doctorates from several English universities, but famously refused to accept a nomination for an OBE in 2003. He was voted Britain's 3rd favourite poet of all time (after T.S. Eliot and John Donne) in a BBC poll in 2009. In 2011 he was poet-in-residence at Keats House in 2011, and then made a radical career change by taking up his first ever academic position as a chair in Creative Writing at Brunel University in West London. He has appeared in a number of television programmes, including Eastenders, The Bill, Live and Kicking, Blue Peter and Wise Up, and played Gower in a BBC Radio 3 production of Shakespeare's Pericles in 2005. He was the first person to record with the Wailers after the death of Bob Marley, in a musical tribute to Nelson Mandela, which Mandela heard while in prison on Robben Island. Their later meetings led to Zephaniah working with children in South African townships and hosting the President's Two Nations Concert at the Royal Albert Hall in 1996. His first book of poems, Pen Rhythm, was produced in 1980 by a small East London publishing cooperative, Page One Books. His second collection, The Dread Affair, was published by Hutchinson's short-lived Arena imprint in 1985. He then published three collections with Bloodaxe, City Psalms (1992), Propa Propaganda (1996) and Too Black Too Strong (2001), the latter including poems written while working with Michael Mansfield QC and other Tooks barristers on the Stephen Lawrence case, followed by the DVD-book To Do Wid Me (2013). His other titles include poetry books for children from Puffin/Penguin and novels for teenagers from Bloomsbury.
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Strongly worded, well crafted and powerfully delivered, Zephaniah's is a vibrant and pertinent voice in modern British poetry. In this collection he examines and lays bare the injustices faced by minorities in Britain and elsewhere. Zephaniah is angry about injustice, he laments it and exposes it. His anger is sorrow too. He does not seek the destruction of society but rather justice for all; a chance for minorities and the underprvileged to be part of, and to have the chance to be part of, modern (British) society. Not all the poems are of the same quality but overall this is memorable writing.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
My 16 yr old (very literate but usually non-committal) son says this is 'very good'. He enjoyed looking at things from Benjamin Zephaniah's point of view.
15 of 19 people found the following review helpful
By "manby4ever"
Format:Paperback
As expected, it would have been impossible to reach up to the standards of face and refugee boy, but this is still a pretty good book! Written in a similar style to his other books, this is not a novel but poetry, criticism and drama. it's worth a read.
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
