Benjamin Zephaniah

Martin seems to have it all. He's cool, funny, and he's the undisputed leader of the Gang of Three, who roam their East London estate during the holidays looking for fun. But one night after the Gang leave a late night rap club, Martin accepts a ride from Pete, a Raider's Posse gang member. Too late, he realises that the car is stolen, and that the police are after them. What happens next will change Martin's life and looks, and show him the true meaning of strength, courage, discrimination and friendship. 

Enter the crazy world of rap poet Benjamin Zephaniah! Funky Turkeys is the first audio edition of Benjamin Zephaniah's poetry collection for children - playful, clever and provocative - this is performance poetry on the page at its very best. An unconventional collection of straight-talking poems about heroes, revolutions, racism, love and animal rights, among other subjects, that will entice many new readers to poetry. Poems in this audiobook were first published in Funky Chickens and Talking Turkeys.

Ray has trouble at home, and he has trouble at school - until he's permanently excluded and ends up sleeping on the floor of a record shop. What happens to a boy like Ray? If he's lucky, maybe he gets a chance to shine.

The story of three boys who aren't easy. They don't fit in. They seem to attract trouble. But they know what they want, and they've got the talent to back it up...

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. By the early 1990s, Benjamin had performed on every continent in the world and he hasn’t stopped performing and touring since. The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah is a truly extraordinary life story which celebrates the power of poetry and the importance of pushing boundaries with the arts.

Acclaimed performance poet and novelist Benjamin Zephaniah's honest, wry and poignant story of a young refugee left in London is of even more power and pertinence today than when it was first published. Life is not safe for Alem. His father is Ethopian, his mother Eritrean. Their countries are at war, and Alem is welcome in neither place. So Alem is excited to spend a holiday in London with his father - until he wakes up to find him gone. What seems like a betrayal is in fact an act of love, but now Alem is alone in a strange country, and he must forge his own path... 

A teacher is dead, murdered by two of his students in front of the whole school. Right in front of Jackson Jones. But Mr Joseph was a good man - people liked him, respected him. How could those boys stab him and jog away like nothing had happened?

Unable to process what he has seen, Jackson begins his own investigation: everyone knows who did it, but as Jackson uncovers more about the boys, he becomes convinced that people need to understand why. 

A powerfully moving and beautiful book about the voyage of HMT Empire Windrush. The hopes, dreams and bravery of the Windrush generation are expressed in this vivid story through the real-life experiences of Trinidadian musician, Mona Baptiste. Written as a brand-new poem by Benjamin Zephaniah.

This is a collection of short up-beat, rapping, light hearted but at the same time serious poems.

April 1958. Leonard is shocked when he arrives with his mother in the port of Southampton. His father is a stranger to him, it's cold, and even the Jamaican food doesn't taste the same as it did back home in Maroon Town. But his parents have brought him here to try to make a better life.

So Leonard does his best not to complain, to make new friends, to do well at school - even when people hurt him with their words... and with their fists. How can a boy so far from home learn to enjoy his new life when so many things count against him?