Propa Propaganda

Propa Propaganda was Benjamin Zephaniah’s second collection from Bloodaxe. First published in 1996, it includes some of his classic poems, such as ‘I Have a Scheme’, ‘The Death of Joy Gardner’, ‘White Comedy’ and ‘The Angry Black Poet’. Best known for his performance poetry with a political edge for adults – and his poetry with attitude for children – 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. He has published three other poetry books with Bloodaxe, City Psalms, Too Black Too Strong and To Do Wid Me (a DVD-book including a film portrait by Pamela Robertson-Pearce). His autobiography, The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah, was published by Scribner in 2018.

Table of Contents:
9 I Have a Scheme 11 The Death of Joy Gardner 13 Terrible World 14 White Comedy 15 Belly of de Beast 17 De Rong Song 18 Save Our Sons (SOS) 19 Reggae Head 21 Dry 22 Meditate and Communicate 24 More Animal Writes 26 Who Dun It? 29 The Angry Black Poet 31 Poor Millionaires 32 Silence in Our Screams 34 Back to What 35 To Be Seen, To Be Done 36 One Day in Babylon 37 City Lights 38 No Problem 39 Family Values 40 Dancing the Tradition 42 Neighbours 43 Another World 45 The War Process 46 Want To Be a Soldier 48 Sit Con 50 City River Blues 51 Tricky 51 Altered Ego 52 Homeward Bound 54 Parents Today 55 The Curse of Count Empire 57 Art 57 Words 57 Hope 58 Mad Human Disease 59 Master, Master 60 Cybersex 63 Ageism 64 Acts of Parliament: motion 1 65 Acts of Parliament: motion 2 66 Acts of Parliament: motion 3 67 The President Is Dead Again 71 Independence 73 De Queen an I 75 Walking Black Home 76 Self Defence 77 Tax Relief 78 Heckling Miss Lou 79 Childless

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) with a full-length feature film by Pamela Robertson-Pearce. His latest book is his autobiography, The Life and Rhymes and Benjamin Zephaniah (Simon & Schuster, 2018). His other titles include poetry books for children from Puffin/Penguin and novels for teenagers from Bloomsbury.