In our highly anticipated keynote event, we are joined by author and broadcaster Lemn Sissay. Lemn Sissay OBE is a BAFTA nominated International prize winning writer. He was awarded an OBE this year by The Queen of England, The Pen Pinter Prize, and a Points of Light Award from The Prime Minister.

This event will consist of a 40-minute dramatic reading from Lemn’s Sunday Times bestseller, ‘My Name is Why’, as well as a 20 minute Q&A segment with the audience.

Tickets are limited so to reserve your place please book here.

About My Name is Why~

“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.”