Lemn Sissay on his foster family

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 8 October 2025

⏱️ 4 minutes

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Summary

The poet Lemm Sissay was cast away by Kirsty Young in 2015.

As a poet, writer and playwright, much of his work tells the story of his search for his birth parents. Born to a young Ethiopian woman who wanted him temporarily looked after while she completed her studies, he was with a foster family until he was 12.

Lemn told Kirsty how he felt after his foster family broke ties with him.

You can listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds.

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:06.0	On BBC Sounds, savings, credit cards, car finance, reclaiming, insurance, investing, power of attorney, decision, indecision, analysis, paralysis.
0:15.8	Don't panic.
0:17.0	The Martin Lewis podcast is now twice weekly, helping you navigate our complex consumer world.
0:22.3	In one, I'll walk you through a big money-saving topic step by step.
0:26.2	Then in the new question time, you set the agenda and ask whatever's on your mind.
0:31.0	Within reason.
0:31.7	The Martin Lewis podcast, now twice weekly.
0:34.4	Listen on BBC Sounds.
1:01.7	Hello, it's me, Lauren Levern, and this is Desert Island Discs postcards, your hand-picked selection of unforgettable moments from some of our favourite castaways.
1:04.4	Today's castaway is the poet Lem Cese.
1:12.6	When he spoke to Kirsty Young back in 2015, he told her how he felt after his foster family turned their back on him as a teenager. I was 12 years of age. I was right on the edge of adolescence because I was the oldest one.
1:20.6	They'd not had an adolescent before. So when I was staying out late with my friends and, or doing what adolescents do,
1:32.7	taking biscuits from the tin without saying please and thank you comes to mind,
1:37.7	there was all kinds of interpretations as to what was wrong with me.
1:45.8	And, yeah, and they basically put me into care, into children's arms
1:54.2	and said that they would never write to me or contact me again.
1:59.5	That was explicit in this deal.
2:05.0	I'm scarcely able to get a handle on where to begin on this.
2:11.1	What I will ask you is the response of the adults around you in the care home.
2:16.1	How did they explain what was happening to you?
2:18.7	Okay, so I have just got my files after wanting them for 25 years.
	...

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