Lemn Sissay author page

Lemn Sissay biography

Lemn Sissay is a British poet, playwright, broadcaster and author. He has written five books of poetry and his poems have been included in many anthologies. His work for the stage includes Something Dark and his adaptation of Benjamin Zephaniah’s Refugee Boy.

Something Dark is a drama based on Sissay’s own life story. The play recounts that he was given up as a baby by his Ethiopian mother in the 1960s, was renamed Norman Greenwood, spent his childhood in care, discovered his real name at the age of 18, and later travelled to Gambia in search of his mother and the truth about his father. Bloomsbury published the Oberon Modern Plays paperback edition on 30 August 2017.

Sissay’s literary and public roles include Associate Artist at Southbank Centre, education ambassador for the Arvon Foundation, patron of the Reader Organisation and the Letterbox Club, and Trustee of World Book Night. He has received an honorary Doctor of Letters and the Society of Authors’ 2010 travelling award scholarship.

His memoir My Name Is Why was published in 2019. His audio work Lemn Sissay is the One and Only was written and performed by Sissay, was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 from 3 to 24 March 2023, and was published as a BBC Digital Audio download on 2 November 2023.