Lemn Sissay
Lemn Sissay is an award-winning writer and popular broadcaster as well as being the author of five poetry books. He was made an Honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Huddersfield and the University of Manchester. He was awarded an MBE by the Queen for services to literature. He was the official poet for the London 2012 Olympics. He has worked throughout the world and is patron of the Letterbox Club, supporting children in care. His work in the Arctic has featured at the Royal Academy and in galleries throughout the world. His Landmark poems can be found in London, Manchester, Huddersfield and Addis Ababa. In 2015 he was appointed Chancellor of the University of Manchester. He is British and Ethiopian.
If you haven’t yet listened to the Guardian’s new podcast The Start, about artistic beginnings, then you’re missing out. Our own Lemn Sissay was on talking about his poem ‘Invisible Kisses’, the early relationship that inspired it, and how as a child he was separated from his mother and his name. You can listen to the full episode, and the poem itself is included in Gold from the Stone.
