That I can’t write.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 October 2023 source ↗
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LS
Lemn Sissay
b. 1967
Born in Lancashire, Lemn Sissay, 56, grew up in care. In 1988, he published his first poetry collection, and he was official poet for the London 2012 Olympics. His 2019 autobiography, My Name is Why, became a bestseller and in 2021 he was awarded an OBE. He has just published Let the Light Pour In: Morning Poems, and his adaptation of Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis with Frantic Assembly tours until 2 March 2024. He lives in London and Manchester.
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Believing in, even admiring, people who refuse to believe in me, and not believing people who do.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 October 2023 source ↗
Also my most triumphant: 2017 at the Royal Court. Julie Hesmondhalgh reads my psychologist’s report over two hours. Every excruciating intimate word of it. Extreme verbatim theatre. One night only.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 October 2023 source ↗
The Prince and Princess of Wales for not knowing when to leave their home.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 October 2023 source ↗
When I was a child, a member of staff at Wood End Assessment Centre [a former children’s home in Wigan] bellowed: “He copies them poems off of Bob Marley records.”
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 October 2023 source ↗
I spent my life searching for family. I travelled around the world to look each one of them in the eye. Unfortunately, but understandably, for most of them, I am their biggest disappointment.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 October 2023 source ↗
I would build relationships. I would remember people’s significant moments. I would not fear closeness.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 October 2023 source ↗
I made a suicide attempt at 12 or 13 years old.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 October 2023 source ↗
In a photo album of just one family.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 October 2023 source ↗
Life is not worth living if there is no one you would die for.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 October 2023 source ↗
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