Performance, Politics, and Poetry for Children: Interviews with Michael Rosen and Benjamin Zephaniah

In these two separate interviews, poets and performers Michael Rosen and Benjamin Zephaniah consider their craft and influences. Both poets have made significant contributions to British children's poetry. Rosen's first book, Mind Your Own Business, is credited for pioneering urchin verse, a branch of poetry that challenges romantic representations of childhood. Zephaniah is part of a wave of British-Caribbean poets who injected new lifein to poetry for children with energetic performances and outspoken views on race and colonialism. In these interviews, both poets also offer incisive commentaries on the British education system, the use of mass media, and the presentation of politics in children's literature.