Benjamin Zephaniah

**Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah** (15 Afrilu 1958 - 7 Disamba 2023) marubuci ne ɗan ƙasar Birtaniya, mawaƙi, ɗan wasan kwaikwayo, mawaƙi kuma farfesa a fannin waƙoƙi da rubuce-rubuce masu ƙirƙira. A tsawon rayuwarsa, an ba shi digirin girmamawa guda 20 don girmama gudunmawar da ya bayar ga adabi, ilimi, da fasaha. An saka shi cikin *jerin* marubuta 50 mafiya kyau a Birtaniya bayan yaƙi a shekarar 2008. A cikin aikinsa, Zephaniah ya yi amfani da abubuwan da ya fuskanta na tsare mutane, wariyar launin fata da kuma gadonsa na Jamaica.

Ya lashe kyautar BBC Radio 4 Young Playwrights Festival a shekarar 1998 kuma ya sami akalla digirin girmamawa goma sha shida. An kuma sanya masa suna a wani sashe a Asibitin Ealing don girmama shi. Littafinsa na biyu, Refugee Boy, shi ne wanda ya sami kyautar littattafai ta Portsmouth ta 2002 a cikin rukunin Longer Novel. A shekarar 1982, ya fitar da wani kundin wakoki, Rasta, wanda ya nuna Wailers suna yin wasa a karon farko tun bayan mutuwar Bob Marley, yana taka rawa a matsayin girmamawa ga Nelson Mandela . Ya hau kan gaba a gasar Yugoslavia, kuma saboda nasarar da ya samu, Mandela ya gayyaci Zephaniah don karbar bakuncin wakokin shugaban kasa na Two Nations a Royal Albert Hall, London, a shekarar 1996. A matsayinsa na jarumi, ya taka muhimmiyar rawa a shirin Peaky Blinders na BBC tsakanin 2013 da 2022.

A vegan and animal rights activist, as well as an anarchist, Zephaniah supported changing the British electoral system from first-past-the-post to alternative vote. In 2003, Zephaniah was offered appointment as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). He publicly rejected the honour, stating that: "I get angry when I hear that word 'empire'; it reminds me of slavery, it reminds of thousands of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers, brutalised".

## Rayuwa ta farko
An haifi Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah a ranar 15 ga Afrilu, 1958,    a gundumar Handsworth da ke Birmingham, Ingila, inda aka kuma yi masa girma.   Ya kira wannan yanki da "babban birnin Jamaica na Turai".  Ɗan iyayensa waɗanda suka yi ƙaura daga Caribbean - Oswald Springer, wani ma'aikacin gidan waya na Barbadian, da kuma Leneve (née Honeyghan),  ma'aikaciyar jinya ' yar Jamaica wadda ta zo Birtaniya a 1956 kuma ta yi aiki a Hukumar Lafiya ta Ƙasa  - yana da jimillar ƙannensa bakwai, ciki har da 'yar'uwarsa tagwaye, Velda.   

Zephaniah ya rubuta cewa kiɗa da waƙoƙin Jamaica da abin da ya kira "siyasar titi" sun yi masa tasiri sosai, kuma ya ce a cikin wata hira da aka yi da shi a shekarar 2005:

## Rayuwa ta sirri
Iyalan Zephaniah Kiristoci ne, amma ya zama Rastafarian tun yana ƙarami.   Ya daina shan wiwi yana ɗan shekara talatin. 

Ya rayu shekaru da yawa a gabashin London ; duk da haka, a shekarar 2008, ya fara raba lokacinsa tsakanin Moulton Chapel kusa da Spalding, Lincolnshire, da Beijing a China.   Ya kasance mai son koyon harshe kuma ya yi karatun Sinanci na Mandarin fiye da shekaru goma. 

Zephaniah ya yi aure na tsawon shekaru 12 da Amina, wata mai kula da gidan wasan kwaikwayo. Rashin haihuwa - wanda ya tattauna a fili  - yana nufin ba za su iya haihuwa ba kuma tarihin aikata laifukansa ya hana su ɗaukar 'ya'ya.  Sun sake aure a shekara ta 2001.  A shekara ta 2017, Zephaniah ya auri Qian Zheng, wanda ya haɗu da shi a wata ziyara a China shekaru uku da suka gabata, kuma wanda ya tsira daga gare shi. 

### MANAZARTA