Urban Sermon: A Tribute to Benjamin Zephaniah

From 2010 – 2014, the Birmingham Literature Festival hosted an annual event in the Birmingham Cathedral called the Urban Sermon. These events invited celebrated authors to talk about some of the pressing issues of our time. In 2013, Benjamin Zephaniah delivered the Urban Sermon, using his work as a platform to talk about multiculturalism as it related to his hometown of Birmingham. 

In tribute to Benjamin’s memory, and to commemorate our 25th anniversary year, Birmingham Literature Festival is reinstating the Urban Sermon at the Cathedral, to be delivered by Birmingham Poet Laureate Casey Bailey (2020-2022). 

Casey’s address will take up the mantle of Benjamin’s theme of multiculturalism in our city, exploring its place within his own creative work and that of the late Benjamin Zephaniah’s. Alongside his address, this event will feature readings from Casey’s poetry, as well as readings of some of Benjamin Zephaniah’s work delivered by poet and artist Sue Brown. The event will honour Benjamin’s legacy and impact on the creative life of the city, and celebrate the generations of Birmingham poets building on the foundations Benjamin laid.