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2017 | Fiction & Poetry
Something Dark tells the true story of Lemn Sissay, who as a baby was given up by his Ethiopian mother in the 1960s. He was renamed Norman Greenwood and nicknamed Chalky White throughout his turbulent childhood in care, only to find out his real name at the age of 18. No longer the possession of the social services, he left the brutal suburbs of Lancashire for the bright lights of Manchester where he baca me a celebrated performance poet. Aged 21 Lemn left for The Gambia in search of his mother and the truth about his father. Something Dark is now a set text on Edexcel's Contemporary Black British Literature: A Guide.
Lemn Sissay
(Author)
| Published by | Oberon Books |
| Edition | Kindle |
| ASIN | B0758FRVG1 |
| Language | English |
Performance Poetry One Man Show Social Care
Main Image Courtesy: Lemn Sissay.
Images And Data Courtesy Of: Oberon Books.
This content (including text, images, videos and other media) is published and used in accordance
with Fair Use.
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This is his story of being taken in to care and the resultant damage. It's a one man show, there's no one else on stage with him, and I think this is indicative of how his life has been lived. He has always had to be self sufficient, from the day that his Foster parents (who had parented him from birth) told him at the age of 11 that 'he' didn't love them anymore (it would be more accurate to say that they didn't love him). They didn't even say goodbye to him: his brothers and sisters didn't get to say goodbye, and he was ushered into a car with his social worker and taken to a children's home.
This illustrates how children in care are 'emancipated' at 18 and expected to cope on their own. Most of them have no family or many friends, and are left to fend for themselves. Lemn was given the information to start the search for his birth mother, which is a very interesting part of the story (which I won't divulge!)
I'm actually going to see this performed by Lemn next week (14/11/17), and I'm very much looking forward to it.