Lemn Sissay

‘Lemn Sissay is something of a literary institution…’ The Big Issue

If you google the name ‘Lemn Sissay’ all the returning hits will be about him. There is only one Lemn Sissay in the world.

Lemn Sissay MBE is the author of several books of poetry alongside articles, records, public art, and plays. He was an official poet for the London Olympics and his Landmark Poems are installed throughout Manchester and London, in venues such as The Royal Festival Hall and The Olympic Park. Sissay is an associate artist at the Southbank Centre, an inaugural trustee of World Book Night, a Trustee of the Foundling Museum, and a Chancellor of the University of Manchester. Sissay received an MBE from HM Queen Elizabeth II for services to literature and an honorary doctorate from University of Huddersfield, who run The Sissay Scholarship for care leavers, the first scholarship of its kind in the United Kingdom. His collected poems were published with Canongate Books as Gold From The Stone and his memoir, My Name Is Why, was published in 2019 and was a number one Sunday Times bestseller. His most recent collection Let the Light Pour In is a series of poems celebrating the morning.

Seamus Heaney HomePlace is delighted to welcome Lemn Sissay to the Helicon for what promises to be a very special evening.