Lemn Sissay

Lemn Sissay MBE^[1] (born 1967) ^[2] is a British author and broadcaster.

Life and work

Early years

Extract from "The Gilt of Cain" a poem by Sissay, near Tower Hill, London.

Sissay's mother arrived in England from Ethiopia in 1966 ^[3] Pregnant at the time, she was sent from Bracknell to Lancashire to give birth.^[4] Sissay was born in Billinge Hospital, near Wigan, Lancashire in 1967. Norman Goldthorpe, a social worker assigned to his mother by Wigan Social Services, found foster parents for Sissay while his mother returned to Bracknell to finish her studies. Goldthorpe named Sissay 'Norman' and gave Sissay to foster parents, telling them to treat it as an adoption.^[3] The events are depicted in the play Something Dark and in BBC documentary Internal flight.^[3][5][6][7] His strongly religious foster parents wanted to name him Mark after the Christian evangelist Mark and give him their surname, Greenwood.

When Sissay was 12 years old, after his foster parents had had three children of their own, they placed him into a children's home and said neither they or any of their family would contact him again.^[4]

Poem by Lemn Sissay on Wilmslow Road, Manchester

From the ages of 12 to 17, Sissay was held in a total of four children's homes. With no surrogate family or birth family upon leaving the care system, he was given his birth certificate, showing the name of his mother, Yemarshet Sissay, and his own legal name, Lemn Sissay. He was also given a letter from his files dated 1968, written by his mother to Norman Goldthorpe, pleading for his return. She wrote "How can I get Lemn back? I want him to be with his own people, his own colour. I don't want him to face discrimination".^{[8] [3][6]} From the point of leaving care, he began the search for his mother and took back his real name.^[3][5]

When Sissay was 18 years old he moved from Atherton to the city of Manchester. At 19 he was a literature development worker at Commonword, a community publishing cooperative in Manchester.

He met his birth mother when he was 21, after a long search. She was working for the UN in the Gambia.^[5]

Career

Sissay released his first book of poetry in 1988 at the age of 21, and since the age of 24 he has been a full-time writer, performing internationally. In 1995, he made the BBC documentary Internal Flight about his life. His 2005 drama Something Dark deals with his search for his family, and was adapted for BBC Radio 3 in 2006, winning the RIMA award (Race in the Media award given from the UK Commission for Racial Equality).^[3][5]

In 2007, Sissay was appointed artist in residence at London's Southbank Centre. He was the official poet of the 2012 London Olympics, has worked with the British Council and is a patron of the Letterbox Club, supporting children in care. His work has featured at the Royal Academy and the British Film Institute.^[10][11][12] Sissay was made an Honorary Doctor of Letters by University of Huddersfield in 2009 and was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours.^[9][13]

Sissay's television appearances include The South Bank Show and the BBC’s series Grumpy Old Men. As a radio broadcaster Sissay makes documentaries for the BBC. He is a regular contributor on BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live, which in 2008 was nominated for two Sony Awards. He also contributes to the BBC's Book Panel.

Books

• Tender Fingers in a Clenched Fist. Bogle L'Ouverture, 1988. ISBN 9780904521443.
• Rebel Without Applause. Bloodaxe Books, 1992 (Canongate Books, 2000). ISBN 9781841950013.
• Morning Breaks in the Elevator. Canongate Books, 1999. ISBN 9781847677433.
• The Fire People (editor). Payback Press, 1998. ISBN 9780862417390.
• The Emperor’s Watchmaker. Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2001. ISBN 9780747547556.
• Listener. Canongate Books, 2008. ISBN 9781841958958.
• Hidden Gems (Deirdre Osborne ed, Sissay contributed Something Dark). Oberon Books, 2008. ISBN 9781840028430.
• Refugee Boy Bloomsbury Stage Adaptation of Benjamin Zephaniah's novel Refugee Boy 2013 ISBN 9781472506450

Plays

• Skeletons In The Cupboard (1993) Bury Metro Arts
• Don't Look Down (1993)
• Chaos by Design (1994) Community Arts Workshop
• Storm (2002) Contact Theatre
• Something Dark (2006) Battersea Arts Centre/Contact Theatre
• Why I Don't Hate White People (2011) Hammersmith Lyric Theatre
• Refugee Boy (2013) West Yorkshire Playhouse

BBC Radio Plays

• Chaos by Design (BBC Radio 1994)
• Something Dark ( BBC Radio 2006)
• Something Dark - Live(ABC 2012)
• Why I Don't Hate White People (BBC Radio 2011)

References

External links

• Official Web Site
• British Council profile
• Lemn Sissay at the Guardian
• BBC 13 October 2006. "Growing up in an alien environment"
• "Intelligence Squared" "The voice at the back of the mind". (Video, 6 mins)
• Audio recordings. Discogs.
• Apples and Snakes profile
• Badilisha Poetry X-Change contributions