On January 15th November 2025, from 7.30-9.30pm, Stroud Radical Reading Group will host a discussion of The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah. Entry is free and everyone is welcome. We will meet at 10 John St, GL5 2AH.

This event has been rescheduled from December – when it was cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances – many apologies. It was originally planned to mark the one year anniversary of Benjamin Zephaniah’s death – on the 7th December 2023.

On his own website, this is how the book is described: “Benjamin Zephaniah is old. So he decided to write his autobiography. It documents his life from the sound systems of Birmingham to the world stage.”

In the early 1980s when punks and Rastas were on the streets protesting about unemployment, homelessness and the National Front, Benjamin’s poetry could be heard at demonstrations, outside police stations and on the dance floor. His mission was to take poetry everywhere, and to popularise it by reaching people who didn’t read books. His poetry was political, musical, radical and relevant.

The Lifes and Rhymes of is the stunning autobiography of the poet, writer, lyricist and activist, Benjamin Zephaniah.

This event follows our discussion of “Speak Out!” – an anthology of work by the Brixton Black Women’s Group in October, and Angela Davis’ autobiography – but you are welcome to attend this event alone, and do not have been to any of our previous events to come along to this one.

Resources

• Buy the book from the Yellow Lighted Bookshop (Nailsworth, Tetbury or Chalford pick up, or delivery at £3.50) via the previous link – RRP £10.99. When looking at your “basket” enter the “couponcode” stroudradical24 for a 12% discount – final book price £9.67, a saving of £1.32)
• “I’m proud to say that the first time I was excluded from school it was because I refused to take off a Free Angela Davis badge from my school uniform” – a post from Zephaniah Speaks, the blog section of his website
• Benjamin Zephaniah website, and Instagram account (which regularly shares clips)
• 1 minute promo video for the book featuring Zephaniah, on his YouTube channel, which features many music videos and poetry readings
• Benjamin Zephaniah on Windrush, anarchism and his time in North Korea (42 minutes, Channel 4 interview, from 2018)
• Loyle Carner interviews Benjamin Zephaniah about art, dyslexia, and Shakespeare (26 minutes, from 2017)

About our events and the venue

Stroud Radical Reading Group events are free to attend, though we will make a collection to cover costs – please bring some cash. We try to create a comfortable discussion space for everyone, including people who have not been part of a reading group or been to university. Anyone is welcome to listen to the discussion, though we encourage contributions only from those who have read at least some of the book we are discussing.

We will meet at 10 John St, GL5 2AH. This is near the centre of town, a short walk from Stroud Railway Station and a slightly longer walk from the Merrywalks Bus Station. There are stands to lock bikes to outside, and parking for cars nearby in either Brunel Mall, Fawkes Place, or Church St car park. There is a low step to enter the building, which is flat. There are no toilet facilities. Please get in touch if you’d like to get more of an idea of what the sessions are like or if you have any accessibility needs.