My name is why /

Sissay, Lemn, 1968-

My name is why / Lemn Sissay. - Edinburgh : Canongate, 2020. - 212 pages : illustrations (black and white) ; 20 cm

Originally published: 2019.

At the age of 17, after a childhood in a 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. This is Lemn's story; 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.

9781786892362 (pbk.) : �9.99


Sissay, Lemn, 1968-
Sissay, Lemn, 1968- --Childhood and youth.


Poets, English--20th century--Biography.
Poets, Black--Biography.
Children--Institutional care--Great Britain--Biography.
Biography.