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Age Guideline 4-7
About the Event
Join legendary poet, author, actor and musician Benjamin Zephaniah to hear all about his brand new picture book, We Sang Across the Sea: The Empire Windrush and Me. Benjamin will be joined by performance poet Ella McLeod to talk about the inspiration behind the book and why he loves poetry.
Buy the book here: We Sang Across the Sea – Benjamin Zephaniah and Onyinye Iwu
About the Authors/Illustrators
The multi-award-winning Dr Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah was born and raised in Handsworth, Birmingham in the UK. He is a writer, poet, actor and musician. Zephaniah’s 2020 children’s novel, Windrush Child, was published as part of Scholastic’s VOICES series and went on to win the Diverse Book Awards (children’s category).
Website: www.benjaminzephaniah.com
Twitter: @BZephaniah | @McLeod_Mouth
Instagram: @officialbenjaminzephaniah | @mcleodmouth
Facebook: @OfficialBenjaminZephaniah
Teacher Resources (Provided by School Library Association)
Our reading of books about children in other lands escaping a conflict or political or economic hardship gives us empathy for those in very different circumstances to our own.
Book suggestions around refugees:
· Michael Bond, A bear called Paddington
· Catherine Bruton, No ballet shoes in Syria
· Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin & Giovanni Rigano, Illegal
· A. M. Dassu, Boy Everywhere
· Nicola Davies, The day war came
· Kate Milner, My name is not Refugee
· Laura Padoan and Matthew Saltmarsh, Forced to flee: refugee children drawing on their experience
· Onjali Q. Rauf, The Boy at the back of the class
· The place for me: stories about the Windrush generation
· Have you read any others from your school library?
About the Chair
Ella McLeod is a writer, poet and performer. She graduated first in her year at Warwick University. She won Shoot From The Lip spoken word poetry competition in 2017 and has since worked as a spoken word poet and actress, and as an Assistant Producer for Somethin’ Else, now part of Sony Music Entertainment. Ella also created and narrated Celina and the Spider, a series of three family-friendly storytime sessions with HOME Manchester. She is a proud South Londoner and lives in Peckham with her partner, Michael, and their cat, HRH Princess Persephone. Her debut novel Rapunzella, or, Don't Touch My Hair, will be published in July 2022.