My war of words with the Dalai Lama.

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Lemn Sissay

So I said to the Dalai Lama “Come on then. If you want a fight let’s have it!” He didn’t follow through. He started talking about the peace process in Northern Ireland. Basically he backed Read more [...]

Be A Witness To Your Greatness.

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Lemn Sissay

I’m at the parliament building of The Northern Ireland Assembly, Stormont, in Belfast speaking at 10th Anniversary of The Letterbox Club. It's a national success story. Carefully selected Read more [...]

100 words on commissions for a contemporary poet

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Lemn Sissay

You’re requested to write poems for an organization with a budget and imagination. It’s for an event, for TV, for YouTube, for radio, for a public art piece, for an album, for a book. Welcome to Read more [...]

A Mill To One.

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Lemn Sissay

It’s early afternoon. I’m in HMP Hindley. I’m reading poems for young prisoners. I make them laugh. They deserve to laugh. But it’s not just laughter. I begin the reading with a poem Read more [...]

Drawing By Suzana Ceallias

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Lemn Sissay

A Poet in the Mill

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Lemn Sissay

I’m in a converted mill in Cheshire. If I throw a block of Cheshire cheese through the window it’ll hit a United footballer. Cheshire is Essex without phrases like “totes amazeballs”. Read more [...]

7 days: Feedback through the snowdrift

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Lemn Sissay

Here's some of the "unrequested" feedback gratefully received over the past 7 days: Workshop attendee Kizzie Henderson sent a message via facebook “you taught me my friend sally how to write poetry Read more [...]

Allegations reaching out on child abuse in Wigan

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Lemn Sissay

On February 24th I wrote a blog Abuse in Oaklands Children’s Home?”. In it I recall a memory of thirty years when in Oaklands childrens home a young boy told me he'd been abused. In the blog Read more [...]

Blog Then Press Send. Why I….part 4 of 4

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Lemn Sissay

I am often instructed that friends are the family you make. Though this is true I always feel like reminding the instructor that relationships you build with friends are based on the building skills Read more [...]

I Then Press Send. Why Blog. Part 3 of 4

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Lemn Sissay

Writing is proof, to me, that I exist at any given time. Whether anyone reads it is not the point Whether literal in a blog, surreal in a poem, scripted in a documentary, sung on record, written upon a Read more [...]