fantastic new novel from this acclaimed writerboys being excluded from school along with rap band rivalries ensures a highly topical read,over 50,000 copies sold of Face; over 30,000 of Refugee Boy within one year of publication

"The authority with which the story is written leaves the reader no choice but to be drawn in - and indeed educated - into the world of gangsta rap, with all the appropriate vocabulary. Not for a long time have I read a book with such a 'pick me up again' factor" Independent on Sunday

Benjamin Zephaniah is probably one of the most high-profile international authors writing today, with an enormous breadth of appeal, equally popular with both adults and children. Most well-known for his performance poetry with a political edge for adults and ground-breaking performance poetry for children, Benjamin also has his own rap/reggae band, and has appeared on desert Island Discs. He is in constant demand internationally to perform his work: he is (he thinks) Nelson Mandela's favourite poet, and is the only Rastafarian poet to be short-listed for the Chairs of Poetry for both Oxford and Cambridge University. His previous novels for Bloomsbury are 'Face' and 'Refugee' Boy'. He has also edited an anthology of poems 'The Bloomsbury Book of Love Poems' . Benjamin lives in East Ham, London.