My Name Is Why by Lemn Sissay
SPECIALLY ABRIDGED FOR QUICK READS How does a government steal a child and then imprison him? How does it keep it a secret? This story is how. This story is true. My Name Is Why is a true story about growing up in care and fighting to succeed despite the cruelty and failures of the care system.
A lyrical, painful and yet hope-filled memoir. . Shattering, light-searching * * Observer * *
Searing . . . Unputdownable . . . My Name Is Why is authentic and beautiful, a potential game-changer in public attitudes to children raised in care. It's about bureaucratic cruelty and what happens when love is absent. Don't miss it * * The Times * *
An extraordinary story * * Sunday Times * *
The most amazing thing about this book is that it's not made up. This actually happened. It is an incredible story -- BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH
I have never read a memoir like it. A blistering account of a young life in the hands of neglectful authorities. It's a quest for understanding, for home, for answers. Grips like a thriller. Astounding -- MATT HAIG
The great triumph of this work comes from its author's determination to rail against what he rightly diagnoses as this institutionally endorsed disremembering of black and marginalised experience. It is a searing and unforgettable re-creation of the most brutal of beginnings -- Michael Donkor * * Guardian * *
Utterly devastating and beautiful . . . Breathtakingly written -- DOLLY ALDERTON
This is a deeply moving memoir that speaks with incredible poeticism. A staggering exposé of colonial theft and abandonment, this book is grippingly heartbreaking -- DAVID LAMMY
A fascinating memoir . . . So powerful -- ELIF SHAFAK
The engaging transfiguring truth of My Name Is Why is like a baptism of truth - leaving you washed clean of lies and reborn in love. Profound in its kindness, intelligence and unselfish heart, this book is important and unputdownable -- JESSICA HYNES
Searing . . . Unputdownable . . . My Name Is Why is authentic and beautiful, a potential game-changer in public attitudes to children raised in care. It's about bureaucratic cruelty and what happens when love is absent. Don't miss it * * The Times * *
An extraordinary story * * Sunday Times * *
The most amazing thing about this book is that it's not made up. This actually happened. It is an incredible story -- BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH
I have never read a memoir like it. A blistering account of a young life in the hands of neglectful authorities. It's a quest for understanding, for home, for answers. Grips like a thriller. Astounding -- MATT HAIG
The great triumph of this work comes from its author's determination to rail against what he rightly diagnoses as this institutionally endorsed disremembering of black and marginalised experience. It is a searing and unforgettable re-creation of the most brutal of beginnings -- Michael Donkor * * Guardian * *
Utterly devastating and beautiful . . . Breathtakingly written -- DOLLY ALDERTON
This is a deeply moving memoir that speaks with incredible poeticism. A staggering exposé of colonial theft and abandonment, this book is grippingly heartbreaking -- DAVID LAMMY
A fascinating memoir . . . So powerful -- ELIF SHAFAK
The engaging transfiguring truth of My Name Is Why is like a baptism of truth - leaving you washed clean of lies and reborn in love. Profound in its kindness, intelligence and unselfish heart, this book is important and unputdownable -- JESSICA HYNES
Lemn Sissay is an award-winning writer and broadcaster. He has written collections of poetry and plays. He received an MBE in 2010 and an OBE in 2021 for services to literature and charity. He is Chancellor of the University of Manchester. He is British and Ethiopian.
@lemnsissay | lemnsissay.com
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781838854645 |
| ISBN 10 | 1838854649 |
| Title | My Name Is Why |
| Author | Lemn Sissay |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Canongate Books |
| Year published | 2022-04-14 |
| Number of pages | 160 |
| Prizes | Short-listed for The Biographers' Club Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Award 2019 (UK), Short-listed for Parliamentary Book Awards 2019 (UK), Short-listed for Gordon Burn Prize 2020 (UK) |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |