Episode 01: Lemn Sissay

The Transformational Power of Creativity

Welcome to the first ever episode of the Human podcast: a place to hear extraordinary human stories. In this first series we are celebrating Human stories of Resilience', and exploring how it enables us to overcome, survive and thrive out of the most impossible experiences.

Our first guest is Lemn Sissay; BAFTA nominated award winning writer, international poet, performer playwright, artist, broadcaster and author of the internationally acclaimed ‘My Name Is Why?’

After a childhood spent being churned through the cruel mechanics of the British Care System, Lemn discovered his name was not Norman Greenwood, as he had been told his whole life- it was Lemn Sissay, he was British and Ethiopian- his birth mother had been pleading for his safe return to Ethiopia since his birth. From the ashes of these years, Lemn has risen like a glorious phoenix to become one of britain's most treasured writers. His story is widely celebrated as being one of the triumphant testaments to the courage and resilience of the human spirit and also to the redemptive, and transformational power of creativity.

Created and hosted by Jess Mills | Creative co-production by Bonny Tydeman | Produced by Joel Porter - Dot Dot Dot Productions