lemn sissay OBE FRSL
@lemnsissay
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Desert Island Discs -Radio 4 My Name Is Why -Canongate Don't Ask The Dragon - canongate Superkids - Channel 4 Winter Walks - BBC 4 The Christmas Dinners - UK
London/Manchester/Addis
Joined November 2009
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Pinned Tweet
"How do you do it?" said night
"How do you wake and shine?"
"I keep it simple." said light
"One day at a time"
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Yesterday I signed my own poem then took a selfie, to absolutely no reaction from the people in the carriage. London.
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Later today Marcus Rashford will become the youngest ever recipient of an honorary degree from The University of Manchester. I am Chancellor at University of Manchester. This is a highlight of my seven year tenure .
photo by The Guardian
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This is a historic moment. Thank you
@JohnLewisRetail
From the bottom of my heart.
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Barry Keoghan was in foster care for seven years, staying in 13 different homes. He is 30 years old. He has been nominated for an Oscar for his role in The Banshees of Insherin. Go on Barry!!!
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Here I am at Windsor Castle. But first we had coffee at Macdonalds. Pre OBE ceremony.
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Hey folks. I'm travelling back from Glastonbury cause today cause I'm moving into my new home which I bought using monies awarded from the Government when I sued them for stealing my childhood and my family.
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She saw and named storms
With calm and hazel eyes
I shalln't think her as 'passed away'
I'll think of her as sun rise
#BBCNorthWestTonight
#DianneOxberry
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Today I was made an OBE. I have written this to say thank you.
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He released all journalists from jail. He made his cabinet fifty percent female. He appointed a great woman for president.He made peace with Eritrea. He is the prime minister of Ethiopia and today he ihas been awarded a Nobel Prize. He is Prime Minister of Ethiopia Dr Abiy Ahmed.
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I know at least one person will find this a lifesaver SO HERE'S HOW TO MAKE YOUR IPAD INTO AN AUTOCUE.
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Merry Christmas. It is ten years since the first Christmas Dinner in Manchester. Today there will be 28 Christmas Dinners in UK. Each dinner serves between 30 & 50 care leavers aged 18 to 25 with a scrumptious meal, great presents and a fun filled day
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Ever experienced a friend change so drastically that they choose you as the enemy
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Well.
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On Friday I bought a home and moved in. This is the kitchen. It's the only functioning room for now. Anna likes it. I like it. We like it.
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I'm at
@BostonLogan
3.15pm at the
@British_Airways
check in desk. I give my ticket & passport to the airline steward & she says "I will check you in now. For future reference this is not the correct queue. The one you should use is to the right." Economy Class.
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Said the son to the moon
Said the head to the heart
We have more in common
Than sets us apart
Photo and Mural Old Trafford, Manchester.
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I publish light said the sky
And books light the way
My Name Is Why
Is published today
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There's choice in what to say
And choice in what to see
I took this today
Cause this took me.
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PLEASE let's send messages with loads of love to Michael Rosen. Right now as he is in hospital. RIGHT NOW..
@Underthecranes
@MichaelRosenYes
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Each day this week I present
#lemnlights
, a dedicated post to someone I know, someone whom I respect & admire, someone who makes a difference outside their chosen field of work, by doing more, by saying more, by their actions and words. Today I present Benjamin Zephaniah
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I LOVE MANCHESTER.
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Yes
@robinince
This train is an unmasked car crash hurtling headlong into the wall of winter. Metaphors mixed!!
I want to scream "Think of a mask as an airbag or a seatbelt".
Also this: If you love the Nhs then wear masks on public transport! Winter is coming!
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I have lived for 56 summers and 55 winters, to the day. Conceived in Autumn and born in Summer. So far so good.
Photo by Pam Cohen at Edinburgh Festival 1986
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Please retweet one of the highlights of my life. The University of Huddersfield are welcoming applications for 'The Lemn Sissay PhD Scholarship for Care Leavers' up until 5pm 31st July. Full details:
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'We are social distancing'
Said the sun to the moon
'Stay where you are
Meet me on zoom'
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I am a fan. I think this is the most joyous photo taken at Hay Festival yesterday. Me and Rosie Jones (Rosie made me feel special) in the green room.
@josierones
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Samantha Morton casts away the shadows of shame & claims the light! On receiving The
@BAFTA
Fellowship Award, after thanking her husband & children...
"I dedicate this award to every child who is in care today, or whose been in care, or is suffering or who didn't survive."
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View from my room right now at The Midland in Morcambe.
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News just in. I will be guest director of Brighton Festival 2020.
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I love Manchester. From the bottom of my heart I love this city.
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The wicked witch of the west
With a mouth flecked with foam
Summons a hurricane of hate
There's no place like home
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Not that you would know via ANY BBC channels but tomorrow I am 'guest editor' of The Today Programme
@BBCr4today
. We broadcast from 6am to 9am . The interview with my social worker will be at 6.45am.
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This morning's event was booked months ago. I will be visiting a school in Ilford to talk about Refugee Boy which is a play I adapted from Benjamin Zephaniah's hit novel of the same name. It is on the syllabus for GCSE Drama. Thank you Benjamin.
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Last night I became a Fellow of The Royal Society of Literature. At the same time
@bernardineevaristo
made history by becoming president of The Royal Society of Literature.
Photo taken yesterday as I presided over a degree ceremony at
@officialuom
by Ben Paulden .
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NEWS JUST IN: My Name Is Why is officially The Sunday Times Number One Bestseller
#MyNameisWhy
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Today I was awarded a doctorate honoris causa from
#EssexUniversity
at Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. All via zoom. It was emotional because of the commitment and work of all the graduands. They will work with our most vulnerable chidlren and families. Thankyou.
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The interview is about the shock of trauma and how it ricochets in a family through the generations. Much like your own family. If you can admit it.
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Thankyou for this year. Thanks for being my friend. Thanks for reading me and for your kindness. Happy New Year.
(photo is me at 18.)
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You do not know our language. We understand yours. Therefore we know more about you than you know of us.
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The ceremony will be in January but I received this news some time ago. I have permission to share it.
"The Lord Mayor and the City of London Corporation would like to invite you to receive the Freedom of the City of London"
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No poem this morning, just these words from Tom Baker who played Dr Who in many of our childhoods.
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This is a mask. You are requested to wear one to protect others. The request is not a form of state oppression.
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At an average of 10 cigarettes a day in 43 years I have smoked about 156,520 cigarettes. 7 days ago I quit. It's like I've stopped slapping myself in the face. NOW I can read my children's book to children without inflicting the stench upon them.
Illustrator:
@GregStobbs
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I am so proud to announce that I am the guest director of The Brighton Festival 2021. It's going to be a blast!
We're pleased to announce our plans for this year's Festival can still go ahead from 1 May. Working together with
@BrightonHoveCC
we'll begin a safe return for arts in the city. Details will be announced online on 30 March with guest director
@lemnsissay
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A distressed deer races to his home
And a stunned and silent swan
Wild turkeys stand as still as stone
Benjamin has gone.
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The Christmas Dinners are my greatest achievement.
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Here is Norman Mills, my final social worker. He was featured on BBC Radio 4 this morning.
He is NOT the social worker, also called Norman, who named me after himself. That was Norman Goldthorpe.
Norman Mills. A good man.
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Said the sun to the moon
Said the head to the heart
"We have more in common
Than sets us apart"
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Night can't drive out night
Only the light above
Fear can't drive out fear
Only love
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Just announced: My Name Is Why has won The Indie Book Awards 2021 prize for non fiction.
#IndieBookshopWeek
#IndieBookAwardsWinners2021
#IndependentBookshopWeek
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Man stops me on the street in Canterbury with his children and wife. He says 'you don't know me but ten years ago I asked if you'd send me a poem by fax. It was for my girlfriend. And she's now my wife. So Thankyou' he said.
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I am proud to be on the wall next to Marcus Rashford - drawn by the incomparable
@stan_chow
- although I am gratifyingly aware that
@MarcusRashford
is in another League.
#Northernwarehouse
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I could never have predicted that the boy stolen from Ethiopia raised in in Billinge Hospital and raised in Wigan would find his way home and eventually meet the Prime Minister of Ethiopia.
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Today is my birthday. The illustration is by
@jabberworks
. The photograph behind the illustration is my home.
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For 25 years I thought I had lost my original birth certificate. It was filmed in 1995. But I found the original today!
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My morning rhymes will be overtaken
By bursting banks of unbound hope
By fountainous future-news breaking
"I do not smoke! I do not smoke!"
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Hold out through the hate & hubris
Hold tight with strength & will
Hold on we will get through this
We've got this. Hold still.
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She said she knew my mother and my Grandparents. And then she said she had photographs.
I wept. For the first time I looked at my maternal Grandfather and Grandmother, his first then second wife.
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Violent night violent night
All is harm all is fight
Found unstirring mother and child
Holding infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace
#thisisnotasunrise
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'How do you do it' said the moon
'how do you stay on track?'
'I keep it simple' said the sun
'and I keep coming back.'
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And so it is the end of my Chancellorship at University of Manchester. I will write a short blog about it but for now
@OfficialUoM
Thank you. It has been an honour to serve. I have had the time of my life.
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Each day I present
#lemnlights
, a dedicated post to someone I know, someone I respect & admire, someone who makes a difference outside their chosen field of work, by doing more, by saying more, by his actions and words. Poet, performer, memoirist & broadcaster Michael Rosen.
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Said the sun to the moon
Said the head to the heart
'We have more in common
Than sets us apart'.
#letthelightpourin
Photo Youtube screengrab.
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Within minutes 'Hero Sue'
@HughesSue
was there in in a car to whisk me off to Ickworth House in Bury St Edmunds. We have never met. Sue's kindness reached across the twitter bridge and saved the day!! Please say good things to Sue.
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Said the sun to the moon
Said the head to the heart
'We have more in common
Than sets us apart'.
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Please share: There are only two days until publication of My Name Is Why on 29th August. Here's my Desert Island Discs. This broadcast changed my life.
"One of the all-time greatest episodes." - Lauren Laverne.
#MyNameIsWhy
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The dying end of summer
Brings to life the leaves
They signal one another
And escape from the trees
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The cloud will not pursue the sun
The sun will not run to the sea
Nature does what will be done
And what will be will be
#RiseLikeTheGERD
#ItsMyDam
Photo by
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It is
#WorldSocialWorkDay
This is Norman Mills. He was my social worker from 12 to 17. He is a good man.
He is NOT the social worker, also called Norman, who named me after himself. That was Norman Goldthorp.
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Brother
@BZephaniah
Benjamin Zephaniah and me backstage circa 2010 at Southbank Centre in London.
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This is INCREDIBLE!
@lemnsissay
Dear Lemn. My partner Beth and I named our son after you, because we love your words, your optimism and your spirit of hope. Much love, from one Lemn to another!
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Tell my ten year old self that in the first Ncuti Gatwa comic strip of 25th century Manchester a tower block will be named after me.
#doctorwhomagazine
@DWMtweets
💥
@senrab_nala
@LeeSullivanArt
@MENnewsdesk
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A standing ovation in Manchester after receiving The special recognition award at Manchester Culture Awards. I am blown away. Thank you.
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I have some understanding and yes compassion for people who find themselves on the wrong side of public opinion. Especially people of an older generation. But David Starkey you are a racist and your work and legacy needs to be revised in light of it.
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The Palace Photographs came through. This is my Godmother Ethiopia Alfred at Windsor Castle. The photo was taken minutes after I received the OBE from Prince Charles. Thank you Ethiopia Alfred .
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Light paves the way
Night waves reveal
A breaking new day
On dew soaked fields
We cannot be defined by war
Not by fields sown with sorrow
Not by the death that befell you
But by the peace that followed
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Today I received this photograph from school friend Austin. I must have been fifteen
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On January 10th I stopped smoking. I have made other attempts over the years. This time is different. Not a day goes by without knowing how lucky I am to have given up giving up on living.
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Within minutes 'Hero Sue'
@HughesSue
was there in in a car to whisk me off to Ickworth House in Bury St Edmunds. We have never met. Sue's kindness reached across the twitter bridge and saved the day!! Please say good things to Sue.
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This is me right now at 8am in The Refuge building (Klimpton Hotel) in Manchester.
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Said the sun to the moon
Said the head to the heart
"We have more in common
Than sets us apart"
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Well I am a poet and it is my life
I would slit my wrist with a pen not a knife
I am a poet from now until then
My life is my paper my knife is my pen
(lemn sissay 18 yrs)
#NationalPoetryDay
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One thousand people attend a monthly poetry reading at Ras Hotel in Addis Ababa. I made a surprise visit so I could show you what an amazing country this is.
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