Welcome to the first Peterborough Reads writing challenge inspired by the winning titles of the Peterborough Book Awards. The first challenge is themed on the Best Poetry Book category, which was won by Funky Chickens by Benjamin Zephaniah.
The challenge
Peterborough Reads is on the hunt for some fantastic young poets. For the challenge, we want you to write or record a poem inspired by Benjamin Zephaniah.
Benjamin Zephaniah is a musician, writer, and poet. His style of poetry is called dub poetry which sounds a bit like a rap when it is performed. He writes about everyday things like animals, family members, food, football, friends, films, and he brings them to life with rhyming words.
Your poem can be about anything you like but it needs to rhyme! If you record your poem, it should be a maximum of one minute, or one side of A4 if you write it.
Entries for this competition have now closed. However, please feel free to complete the activity if you wish.
Top tips
- You can listen to lots of Benjamin Zephaniah's poems for free. Either scroll down and watch the video below, or click here to listen to the Funky Turkeys mixtape
- Simon Mole has some great tips on writing and performing poetry
- Learn how to rap!
- BBC Bitesize has some handy poetry resources