For many years, the poet Benjamin Zephaniah had a close relationship with De Montfort University Leicester (DMU), inspiring many students with visits, workshops and talks. In 2015, the university awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Letters. After learning of the sad news of Mr Zephaniah’s death, Simon Perril, DMU’s Professor of Poetic Practice, paid tribute the poet, novelist and performer.
We are all deeply saddened to hear of the unexpected death of Benjamin Zephaniah.
Leicester Centre for Creative Writing at DMU was privileged to have a long-running relationship with him – as a Visiting Fellow for many years, we were touched that he regarded us as colleagues.
No-one who met Benjamin was quite the same afterwards – he was a one-man national grid emitting constant energy.
He was also quite simply a lovely man whose ethical commitments and dynamism were matched by his grace and good-humour.
Benjamin anecdotes would fill a book – and it would be a very characterful book. But also something to learn from; in terms of how a creative life can (and should) be an act of patient service. When students thronged in DMU corridors wanting to catch a snap with the man, they were writers-amongst- writers – he made them feel, and know, that. In his lectures he instilled a sense of vocation and self-belief anchored in the joy of creative making.
“If you want to write poetry you can be a banker or a cleaner – do it because you love it, to express yourself and because it’s good for your mental health,” he once told our students.
Instilling independent thought through art was his byword – and he was pleased to see that DMUs States of Independence annual publishing festival has the strapline ‘Independent Publishing, Independent Writing, Independent Thinking.’ Alas, Covid lockdown robbed us of hearing the planned keynote he was to scheduled to give.
Benjamin’s bi-annual visits to campus were full of unofficial itinerary, where colleagues had managed to grab him for a surprise school-visit. You asked him, because the ‘can-do’ vibe he exuded made you feel everything was possible, and equally important. In quiet moments with colleagues, he’d talk of clandestine hospital visits to teens at the request of worried parents or siblings. And it was never a performance of his status – he knew he could help, and he did.
Joyce Frank, an administration manager in our Arts, Design and Humanities Faculty, was always keen to meet Benjamin when he visited DMU. She said: “He used to mentor my cousin. We got chatting on one of his visits. When we were introduced he said, ‘I knew a Frank from Leicester called Oscar, I used to mentor him’. I said yes, that’s my cousin. He remembered visiting my uncle’s house which was about four doors away from where we used to live. Small world.”
Benjamin made time for everyone, and we all took away some of the magic he carried when we encountered him, either directly or through his work. That work, those recordings, those books, those performances will remain with us always. We send out deepest sympathy to Benjamin’s family; and want them to know how highly he was valued as writer, performer – and as the most wonderfully human of human beings.
Professor Simon Perril
Leicester Centre for Creative Writing
DMU
Posted on Thursday 7 December 2023