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Talking Turkeys
Talking Turkeys
Oct 4, 2024 5:24 PM

Author:Benjamin Zephaniah

Talking Turkeys

A reissue of TALKING TURKEYS by street poet Benjamin Zephaniah. Talking Turkeys is an unconventional collection of straight-talking poems about heroes, revolutions, racism, love and animal rights, among other subjects, that will entice many new readers to poetry. It is his very first ground-breaking children's poetry collection - playful, clever and provocative - this is performance poetry on the page at its very best.

Benjamin Zephaniah was born in Birmingham and then spent some of his early years in Jamaica. He came to London when he was 22 and his first book of poetry for adults was published soon after. He appears regularly on radio and TV including a Desert Island Discs appearance, literary festivals, and has also taken part in plays and films. He is most well-known for his performance poetry with a political edge for both children and adults and gritty teenage fiction. His collections Talking Turkeys, Wicked World and Funky Chickens broke new ground in children's poetry. He is the only Rastafarian poet to be short-listed for the Chairs of Poetry for both Oxford and Cambridge University and has been listed in The Times' list of 50 greatest postwar writers. Benjamin now lives in Lincolnshire.

Reviews

Zephaniah is the reigning king of children's poetry... He has an unselfconscious relish for language and word-play that never strays into the patronising dee-dum-dee-dum-dee-dum territory of so much of children's poetry: his are poems that bounce up from the page and demand to be read, rapped, sung and hip-hopped aloud.

—— Independent on Sunday

This is poetry with attitude.

—— The Times

A delight to read aloud.

—— Brian Patten

A touching tale . . . Written in a first-person voice of disarming honesty, the book rings true through all its many layers

—— Guardian

Jacqueline Wilson's clever interweaving of the modern and Victorian story lines makes this book especially satisfying. Nick Sharratt's delightful line drawings help to make the text accessible to a very wide range of readers, who will find this first rate novel both intuitive and humorous

—— Carousel

Wilson reveals her ability to elicit tears as well as laughter

—— Publishers Weekly

Vivid, warm and amusing

—— Evening Standard

Written in a first-person voice of disarming honesty, the book rings true through all of its many layers

—— Guardian

A good read for 11-year-olds who want to know their counterparts a century ago were truly human

—— TES

A most enjoyable book, full of life, warmth and humour

—— The School Librarian

Compelling and thought-provoking

—— Teach Primary

What a fantastic job Adel Geras has done bringing these characters to life

—— Sarah's Book Reviews

Full of suspense and the characters were written so well that you were really pulled into their lives

—— Chrissie's Corner

The book comes billed as "a passionate tale of love, betrayal and revenge" - and it is indeed, an excellent, intelligent read which will stretch minds just as it will stretch vocabularies. It is vivid in the world it creates, intriguing as it takes you there and satisfying when it leaves you

—— Chichester Today

Adele Geras gave us brilliant evocations of the ancient world with Troy and Ithaka. With Dido she again takes a classical setting and story and breathes freshness, and above all an up-to-date connection, into the people and the places whilst skilfully remaining faithful to her sources

—— School Librarian
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