Benjamin Zephaniah Not Interested in Poet Laureateship

The Guardian shares poet Benjamin Zephaniah's response following speculation that he might be a candidate for the position of poet laureate after Carol Ann Duffy steps down. As we find out, Zephaniah is not interested in taking on the role. As Alison Flood explains, "[he] has ruled himself out of the running for the poet laureateship, saying he has 'absolutely no interest in this job'." From there: 

Zephaniah, one of the UK’s most celebrated poets, had been mentioned in news reports as a possible candidate for the position once Carol Ann Duffy steps down from her 10-year term in 2019, alongside names including Lemn Sissay, Simon Armitage, Vahni Capildeo and Patience Agbabi. But the poet who describes himself as “profoundly anti-empire”, and who turned down an OBE in 2003, saying at the time, “Me? I thought, OBE me? Up yours, I thought”, has made it clear that he is not an option for the laureateship.

“I have absolutely no interest in this job. I won’t work for them. They oppress me, they upset me, and they are not worthy,” he wrote on Twitter. “I write to connect with people and have never felt the need to go via the church, the state, or the monarchy to reach my people. No money. Freedom or death.”

Zephaniah is not the first writer to rule himself out of the running for the laureateship next year. Wendy Cope, who called for the post to be abolished in 2009, told the Guardian last week that she would not be a contender this time round, adding: “If it’s a competition, it is one that many poets have no interest in winning.” The acclaimed Scottish poet Jackie Kay, who is Scotland’s current makar, the national poet, has also expressed doubts about taking on the role. “I can’t see how I could possibly be the makar and the poet laureate,” she said last week. “I don’t think the powers that be would want to combine the two.”

Read more at The Guardian.