Back to home page - News From Nowhere Radical & Community Bookshop

News From Nowhere Radical & Community Bookshop

not-for-profit - a workers'co-op - committed to social justice | 96 Bold Street, Liverpool L1 4HY - 0151 708 7270

My Name Is Why: A Memoir

by Lemn Sissay - £9.99  Canongate Books Ltd (2020)
paperback    ISBN 13: 9781786892362 | ISBN 10: 1786892367

How does a government steal a child and then imprison him? How does it keep it a secret? This story is how.
 
At the age of seventeen, after a childhood in a foster 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 his childhood, 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.

(Price & availability last checked: October 2020)

This website can't tell you if we have this book in the shop or not - to ask, phone us or use the enquiry link below. (We can order most books within 7-10 days, subject to availability.)
  

Featured book: Recommended Non-Fiction titles for Yuletide 2020!,
In booklists: Black, Asian and Middle Eastern Biography and Autobiography, Adoption and Fostering: Memoirs and Family Stories, Adoptee Experiences, Black Britain, Biography and Autobiography, Writers and Poet's Lives and Works,
In categories: History & Biography, Black, Asian & Other Diasporas, Children & Young People, Poetry & Writing,

© News From Nowhere Co-operative Ltd IP24524R 2004-2024 | Privacy policy | Contact | return to top of page