S14, Ep7 How To Fail: Benjamin Zephaniah

How To Fail With Elizabeth Day

Sony Music

Society & Culture

4.8 • 9.4K Ratings

🗓️ 22 June 2022

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Benjamin Zephaniah was the author of the first poetry collection I ever owned. For many of us, he was the chronicler of our youth: a novelist and poet who made language exciting and funny and told stories full of action and hilarity.
I was so excited to get to speak to him for today's episode, and he didn't let me down. We talk about his failure as a 'gangsta' - and his early brushes with the law (he served a prison sentence for burglary) as well as what being incarcerated taught him. We talk about his failures at school, his dyslexia and leaving mainstream education at the age of 13. And, in one of the most emotional conversations I've ever had on the topic, we talk about his failure to have children and his own journey with male infertility. It's the first time I've spoken about fertility struggles with a male guest, and it's a conversation I'll never forget. Just a note to say: we both get emotional and if you're feeling in a fragile space yourself because you're going through something similar, you might understandably want to come back to this episode later. On the other hand, it might be exactly what you need to remind you that you're not alone.

--

This episode is airing on Windrush Day in the UK, 22nd June, a legacy Zephaniah explores in his latest book for children, We Sang Across the Sea: The Empire Windrush and Me, available to order here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/we-sang-across-the-sea-the-empire-windrush-and-me/benjamin-zephaniah/onyinye-iwu/9780702311161

--
How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted by Elizabeth Day, produced by Naomi Mantin and Chris Sharp. To contact us, email [email protected]

--

Social Media:

Elizabeth Day @elizabday

How To Fail @howtofailpod

Benjamin Zephaniah @BZephaniah

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello and welcome to How to Fail with Elizabeth Day. The podcast that celebrates the things
0:19.2	that haven't gone right. This is a podcast about learning from our mistakes and understanding
0:25.5	that why we fail ultimately makes us stronger because learning how to fail in life actually means
0:32.2	learning how to succeed better. I'm your host author and journalist Elizabeth Day and every
0:38.4	week I'll be asking a new interviewee what they've learned from failure. Dr Benjamin
0:44.5	Zeffaniah describes himself on his own website as poet writer lyricist musician and naughty boy.
0:52.7	Naughty or not, he is the son of a Barbadian postman and a Jamaican nurse born and raised in Birmingham.
1:00.7	Zeffaniah started writing poetry as a child giving his first public performance at the age of 10.
1:06.6	His dyslexia made school challenging and he left mainstream education at the age of 13. As a young
1:13.6	man he served a prison sentence for burglary and yet he went on to achieve extraordinary success.
1:19.6	Today he has a clutch of honorary doctorates, his professor of poetry at Brunel University and
1:26.3	the Times listed him as one of the 50 greatest post-war writers. His work has influenced
1:33.5	legions of children and I'm one of them. His first volume for kids talking turkeys was a prize
1:40.7	possession in my childhood bookshelf. Zeffaniah has long been on a mission to challenge the image
1:46.9	of poetry being a stilted deadening art form. He cites his two main influences as Jamaican culture
1:53.6	and street politics and if you've ever watched one of his explosive riveting performances of his
1:59.6	own work you'll see why. In his books and poetry he's unafraid to explore big issues, racism,
2:07.0	refugees and mental health. His latest book for children we sang across the sea, the Empire,
2:13.0	Windrush and Me is no exception. He's also a playwright novelist, has released several
2:19.8	music albums and lately has found on screen fame in his 60s acting the part of the street
2:26.2	preacher in Peaky Blinders. He's also a big believer in learning from mistakes. When you make
2:33.8	mistakes it's not about regretting them, it's about saying how can I learn from that?
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Sony Music, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Sony Music and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.