Lemn Sissay
Author, poet and playwright
Author and broadcaster. Sissay released his first book of poems, Tender Fingers in a Clenched Fist (1988) at the age of twenty-one. Since then he has published numerous collections of poetry and plays. The first official poet of the London 2012 Olympics and he is currently known for his Morning Tweets that describe dawn each day. Awarded an MBE for Services to Literature in 2010.
Revolutions have passed between us,From ‘Mill Town and Africa’ in Rebel Without Applause (Edinburgh: Canongate, 2000)
emperors dethroned, guns and red flags raised.
It seems to me that around each corner beneath each stoneFrom ‘Quiet Places’ in The Poetry Olympics Marathon Anthology (London: New Departures, 2001)
Are humans quietly looking for a place to cry on their own.
Lemn Sissay
by Madeleine Waller
C-type colour print, 24 July 2006
NPG x131827
© Madeleine Waller / National Portrait Gallery, London
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