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News,07 Dec 2023,5 mins

Benjamin Zephaniah - "He was everything a poet should be”

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Benjamin Zephaniah, one of the UK's leading post-war poets - whose work often addressed political injustice, has died aged 65. He'd been diagnosed with a brain tumour eight weeks earlier. His family posted a statement saying: "Benjamin was a true pioneer and innovator". Through his huge body of poems, literature, music, television and radio, he had left them with a joyful and fantastic legacy. Benjamin Zephaniah's work was heavily influenced by Jamaican music and poetry. And he had a playful, clever provocative side – and was loved for his and expressive performance poetry. In this episode of our 5 Minutes On podcast, his friend and fellow poet Lemn Sissay pays tribute to a man he said was "everything a poet should be". (Image: Michael Leckie / BBC)

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