Past events are archived for future reference.
No child in care should be disadvantaged. A child in care should be given the same opportunities as other children. A child in care deserves the best education. Lemn Sissay has fought long and hard for the rights of children in care.
This charismatic speaker, poet, rights advocate and university chancellor talks to Andrew Harvey about how his own life story has empowered his work to open doors that ought never have been shut.
Lemn Sissay, a child abused in care, went on to defy the odds by becoming one of the UK's best-known public poets. Lemn Sissay was a commissioned to create Landmark poetry installations in prominent places including Festival Hall and Olympic Park. His Landmark Poem, “Guilt of Cain”, was unveiled by Bishop Desmond Tutu in Fen Court near Fenchurch Street Station.
Lemn is an associate artist at Southbank Centre, patron of The Letterbox Club and The Reader Organisation, ambassador for The Children’s Reading Fund, trustee of Forward Arts Foundation and inaugural trustee of World Book Night, and an honorary Doctor of Letters. He was installed as Chancellor of the University of Manchester in 2015, in recognition of his advocacy and literacy work.
Sissay’s award-winning play Something Dark, directed by John McGrath, has been performed throughout the world and his stage adaptation of Benjamin Zephaniah’s novel Refugee Boy at West Yorkshire Playhouse toured Britain in 2014. A BBC TV documentary, Internal Flight, and a radio documentary, Child of the State, were both broadcast about his life and his Ted Talk has close to a million views.
This event is part of the Bendigo Writers Festival and is sponsored by the Greater City of Bendigo.
