There's a compelling, if macabre, reason why Benjamin Zephaniah is a vegan.
Every time he smells meat cooking, it instantly takes him back to his horrific experience of war.
He saw people being gunned down in front of him during the Lebanese Civil War, then their bodies left in the street.
The Birmingham-born writer remembers: 鈥淥ne day I came across a pile of burning bodies, a funeral pyre.
鈥淚t was gruesome and it really stayed with me. Now I鈥檓 a vegan, because any time I smell meat, it take me back there to the smell of burning flesh.
鈥淚 went to Lebanon many years ago, I was in the occupied territories of Gaza during a fierce civil war. I came under fire, I saw people shot and left in the streets, and thought I was going to die.
鈥淲ar is ugly. We see it in films and on the news, but only the edited bits.鈥
The Lebanese conflict lasted from 1975 to 1990 and resulted in more than 100,000 deaths plus a mass exodus of a million refugees.
We鈥檙e discussing war and its consequences because Benjamin鈥檚 second novel, Refugee Boy, has been turned into a play which is being staged at Birmingham Rep.
And also because Benjamin has had recent experience of its devastation.
He says: 鈥淚n the last couple of days I have been helping a friend, a former soldier, who has severe mental problems 鈥 his mind has absolutely gone.
鈥淏y 26 he had already seen four tours of duty in Afghanistan. He saw horrors he shouldn鈥檛 have had to. He should be enjoying himself but he can鈥檛 even have a girlfriend. He hears a bang and thinks the war has started.
鈥淚t completely freaked me out to see someone dying in front of me. He began seeing that at 19.
鈥淧eace shouldn鈥檛 just be the absence of war, just subduing something that will come back.
鈥淚 like to see peace as a doing word, it鈥檚 something you have to work at, like a marriage. 鈥淲e have to find new ways of solving our problems. It sounds idealistic, but we can do it in the playground.
鈥淚f two kids are fighting, the teacher takes them aside and gets them to talk it through.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e an adult and fight in the street, you鈥檒l get arrested.
鈥淚 find it really odd that all our lives we are told not to fight, and then politicians get involved and send troops to fight in conflicts.
鈥淚t鈥檚 quite sad that Refugee Boy is even more relevant today than when I wrote it. There鈥檚 a part of me that would like the book to be a bit dated, something about our dark past which we鈥檝e moved on from.
鈥淏ut I saw a documentary the other day about people sneaking into Britain on a boat from Calais. So many were Syrians and so desperate.鈥
Refugee Boy was published in 2001. It鈥檚 about the warring factions of Ethiopia and Eritrea and a 14-year-old boy, Alem, who is brought to the 海角视频 for his safety and left alone.
The play was first produced last year by West Yorkshire Playhouse and adapted by East African poet Lemn Sissay.
This is the first time it has gone further afield and been staged in Benjamin鈥檚 home city.
The 55-year-old Rastafarian, who grew up in Handsworth, says: 鈥淲hen I was first approached about adapting my novel, I said no.
鈥淚 wanted someone fresh to take a new perspective. I鈥檓 too close to it, I wouldn鈥檛 want to change a word from the novel.
鈥淚 wanted to give a chance to an up-and-coming new writer. But the people at the Playhouse suggested poet Lemn Sissay, who I knew.
鈥淗e was so passionate about the book, saying it was so close to his personal story, that I had to let him do it.
鈥淚 oversaw the script, so the ghost of me was always lingering over him, but he was fine about that.
鈥淚f it had been down to me, I would like to put every chapter on the stage, but that鈥檚 not the way to do it.
鈥淨uite frankly, I see when it鈥檚 been done by other writers and I think it鈥檚 a bit of a shame. You can never get a book fully on the stage, you have to tell it in another way.
鈥淲hen I first saw the finished production, I was thinking 鈥楾hat鈥檚 the bit I wrote, that鈥檚 Lemn鈥檚 bit鈥. But then it melted into one and I couldn鈥檛 see the joins.
鈥淥ne thing he did which was very good was putting poetry into it.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 put poetry in my novels because that鈥檚 what people expect, and I like to do the unexpected.
鈥淢y first novel, Face, was a straight story about a 15-year-old white kid. I just wanted to produce a good novel, to show people that I could write.
鈥淚 like to watch Refugee Boy whenever I can and it鈥檚 always quite emotional for me.
鈥淚 plan to see it at the Rep. It will feel special, I call it playing at home.
鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 matter what I do or where I go, Birmingham is always close to me. I live in Birmingham more than I let on. I have never let the city get away from me.
鈥淚 left in 1979, I was getting into trouble with gangs and I thought 鈥業鈥檓 going to leave this all behind and never come back鈥. I didn鈥檛 really care about the place.
鈥淏ut when I got to London and heard people doing Birmingham down and making fun of my accent, I got really patriotic about my city and realised how much I loved it.
鈥淚鈥檓 not romantic about it, I get frustrated with its problems, but I love it.
鈥淚 love the way we talk and our friendliness. When I first went to London, I was standing at a bus stop and said 鈥榓lright?鈥 to the man next to me.
鈥淗e swore at me and said 鈥楢re you gay?鈥. In Birmingham I always talk to people at bus stops!鈥
Aston Villa fan and divorcee Benjamin, who can鈥檛 have children, now lives alone in Spalding, Lincolnshire but often returns to Birmingham to see his mother Valerie.
The son of a Jamaican nurse and Barbados postman and the eldest of nine, he and his mother ended up homeless when they fled his abusive father.
He attended Broadway School in Handsworth and an approved school but left at 13 unable to read or write. He was mixed up in gangs and later spent time in Winson Green prison for burglary.
It wasn鈥檛 until he moved to London that he went to adult education classes and learned to read and write.
鈥淚 could read some words before then but I really struggled. I could just about write my own name.
鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 until I was 21 that I sat down and someone explained things like grammar to me. Then I discovered I was dyslexic.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think I could tell you the alphabet even now. I know the letters but I don鈥檛 know the right order.鈥
It shows how far he鈥檚 come that he now enjoys respect in literary circles. He has lectured at both Oxford and Cambridge universities and was tipped for the position poet laureate, before Andrew Motion got the job.
He is now professor of poetry at Brunel University in West London and his fans included Nelson Mandela and Bob Marley.
He has published more than a dozen collections of poetry, 10 albums and four novels.
He also acts a bit and has just filmed a scene for the second series of Peaky Blinders, in which he plays a Birmingham preacher.
鈥淚 have a 16-year-old son now!鈥 he exclaims. 鈥淚鈥檓 really upset about that, they haven鈥檛 even given me a wife.鈥
He first became known for his live performances as a dub poet. In fact he realises, after thinking for a while, that the first time he set foot in a theatre was to perform.
鈥淚t would have been in London at an alternative cabaret night. I was on the bill with French and Saunders, Keith Allen and The Flying Pickets.
鈥淚 had performed in places in Birmingham like Newtown and Nechells community centres, and the cellar of Canterbury Cross in Perry Barr, but never in a theatre.
鈥淎nd the first time I saw a play, it was one of my own.
鈥淣ow I go to the theatre all the time, I鈥檓 passionate about it. When I come across people who can鈥檛 understand what鈥檚 so good about theatre, I say 鈥業 hated it too, you should change your mind鈥.
鈥淭hat usually works, as it鈥檚 not somebody saying 鈥榤ummy and daddy took me there鈥.
鈥淚 always felt when I was growing up that people I knew wouldn鈥檛 go to the theatre. It all seemed very much for uptown people.
鈥淥ver the years it has been changing, and theatre is more accessible, but we still need to chip away at it.
鈥淎nd it frustrates me when I come across young people who are still not keen on books.
鈥淚 remember when I was kid, I thought 鈥榩eople like me aren鈥檛 in books鈥.
鈥淪o that is why, I can reveal, my next novel for teens is set in Birmingham.
鈥淭error Kid is about an act of terror, something that happens in the city that this boy gets accidentally mixed up with.
鈥淩eaders will be able to walk down the streets that I write about. That鈥檚 really important.鈥
A conversation with Benjamin takes many serious turns, but he鈥檚 also witty and quick with jokes.
And he鈥檚 keen to point out that his work, like Refugee Boy, has moments of humour.
鈥淟ife goes on for refugees, they have to smile and crack a joke, it鈥檚 part of the struggle to be human.
鈥淚 remember in Lebanon, there had been a day of heavy fighting. Finally when the shooting stopped, they put on a wedding. I was still shaking but the best man was telling jokes. The human spirit is amazing.
鈥淚 hesitate to say I鈥檓 a political writer. People say I am, but I write about life and that happens to involve politics.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 help raising these issues, but if you keep banging people over the head with them and going on about war and suffering and nothing else, they get turned off.
鈥淚 want people to face reality but also be entertained.鈥
* Refugee Boy comes to Birmingham Rep from April 8-12. For tickets, ring 0121 236 4455 or go to
