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My Name Is Why

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My Name Is Why

Written by: Lemn Sissay
Narrated by: Lemn Sissay, Richard Burnip, Zoe Mills
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About this listen

At the age of 17, after a childhood in an fostered family followed by six years in care homes, Norman Greenwood was given his birth certificate. He learned that his real name was not Norman. It was Lemn Sissay. He was British and Ethiopian. And he learned that his mother had been pleading for his safe return to her since his birth.

Here Sissay recounts his life story. It is a story of neglect and determination. Misfortune and hope. Cruelty and triumph.

Sissay reflects on a childhood in care, self-expression and Britishness, and in doing so explores the institutional care system, race, family and the meaning of home. Written with all the lyricism and power you would expect from one of the nation's best-loved poets, this moving, frank and timely memoir is the result of a life spent asking questions, and a celebration of the redemptive power of creativity.

©2019 Lemn Sissay (P)2019 Canongate Books Ltd Biographies & Memoirs Racism & Discrimination Inspiring
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Vivid and disturbing insights into the British foster care system in the 1970’s and 1980’s. It reflects Lemn Sissay’s incredible sense of character and survival, that he made it through, not only in one piece, but excelled in his field, after all those social and economic barriers.

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