Tag Archives: Lemn Sissay

Three Poet-Writers of the Ethiopian Global Diaspora—Lemn, Heran, and Kassaye

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There has recently been a convergence of words and wonders, of poets and power.

Our Lions Roaring Far from Home: An Anthology by Ethiopian Adoptees co-editor Kassaye Berhanu-MacDonald has an essay in the newly published book The Global Ethiopian Diaspora. Kassaye, raised in Canada, also has an essay in Lions Roaring.

Heran Tadesse, another Lions Roaring writer, is also a poet. Heran was raised in The Netherlands, and returned from that diasporic life decades ago to Ethiopia, where she is teaching yoga and raising a family.

Recently, Heran attended events at the British Council in Addis with the luminary writer-poet-playwright Lemn Sissay, OBE, another adoptee in the Ethiopian global diaspora, raised in England, who frequently returns to Ethiopia.

Lemn Sissay and Heran Tadesse, Addis Ababa,
May 2024.

Lemn did not write in Lions Roaring. He did write a lovely comment about it: “This book is all about connection, connection to story, connections to homes, to the many homes that one person can have, and connection between writers. Bravo for getting this book together and for getting these authors together. It’s important testimony.”

How compelling that these three have “converged” in Lions Roaring as well as in the diaspora.

Here is an excerpt from Lions Roaring by Kassaye. Her essay is titled “Hunger.”

“…For me, finding my family is more about my right to truth than about fulfilling my desire to be biologically connected to someone. I’m well aware that blood relations don’t guarantee harmonious, trusting, safe, or loving relationships. However, I believe we all have an inalienable right to know who we came from, whether or not we decide to pursue a relationship…I am part of a lost generation returning to Ethiopia with only bits of information about our families. Our Ethiopian parents, on the other hand, do not have the resources or information to track down or locate their lost children in the diaspora.”

Here is an excerpt from Lions Roaring by Heran. Her essay is titled “The Search for Home Within.”

“Layers of conditioning still to unravel have taught me to love my hair naturally, my dark chocolate skin, and embrace my past unconditionally. As Meshell Ndegeocello so aptly wrote, ‘My beauty cannot be measured by the standards of a colonized mind.’

…Living in Ethiopia and re-learning the language and culture were the next steps toward making me feel that I belong. Being in Ethiopia gives me the biggest challenge and the biggest gain. Neo-colonialism is also prevalent in Ethiopia, but the history, tradition, culture, spirituality, and pride are deeply rooted in the society, and heal me on a daily basis…”

Lemn Sissay haș written many books and poems on an astonishing range of subjects. In his powerful, poignant memoir, “My Name is Why,” he wrote

“Look what was sown by the stars/ At night across the fields /

I am not defined by scars / But by the incredible ability to heal.”

“I am not defined by darkness/ Confided the night.

Each dawn I am reminded/ I am defined by light.”

Cover art of Lions Roaring;
Original art by Nahosenay Negussie

Happy Birthday, Lemn Sissay! And Thank You.

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All of us in the Lions Roaring anthology community want to wish Lemn Sissay OBE a very Happy Birthday today! When he graciously wrote this about “Lions Roaring,” we were almost speechless, absolutely thrilled, and utterly grateful.

“Many thanks for ‘Lions Roaring Far From Home.’ I receive many manuscripts and proof copies.

Ethiopia is over half a day’s travel from Washington DC. It is seven hours from London. The internet means an adopted child can connect with Ethiopians around the world. This book is all about connection, connections to story, connection to homes, to the many homes that one person can have, and connection between writers: Bravo for getting this book together and for getting these authors together. It’s important testimony. Enjoy.”

Lemn is a prize-winning, world-renowned author, poet, broadcaster, and playwright; a PEN Pinter Prize winner; a BAFTA nominee; a former chancellor of the University of Manchester; the official poet of the 2012 London Olympics; and more. He is also an Ethiopian, born in England, raised in abusive foster homes, and a resilient survivor who works steadfastly for children and teens now in England’s foster care system.

Happiest of Birthdays to you! May there be many, many more.

“Lions Roaring Far From Home: An Anthology by Ethiopian Adoptees” can be ordered from most countries through Amazon here. Thank you very much! if you have trouble ordering it, use the Contact page here or email us at lionsroaringfarfromhome@gmail.com. If you are an adoptee and the cost is a barrier for you, please let us know and we will get a copy to you. Thank You!

Being “Home,” Being Adopted, Being Lemn Sissay

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In the journey to and from home, there are many intersections, places where 2 or more roads meet. When you are expecting a delivery to your home, what do they ask you?

“What’s the nearest intersection?”

The synonyms for intersection are circle, cloverleaf, crossing, crosswalk, interchange, junction, stop.

Let’s make that a poem:

Intersection

Circle, cloverleaf, crossing, crosswalk.

Interchange, junction.

Stop.

IMG_7016

©: Maureen McCauley Evans

Consider the intersections of the poet/writer/broadcaster/foster care alum/Ethiopian adoptee/British citizen/MBE Lemn Sissay. “His head is in London where he’s based, his heart is in Manchester where he is not, his soul is in Addis and his vibe is in New York where his mother lives,” according to his website.

Lemn Sissay has a new BBC radio broadcast, taped at the Ghion Hotel in Addis, called “Homecoming.” He speaks about the various crossings of his life, and brings in several people who have traveled on some of the same roads as he has. He interviews two Ethiopian adoptees, raised in Holland and now living in Ethiopia, (An intersection: my daughter and I met also with those two lovely people in Addis last August.) He talks about Prince Alemayehu, about whom I’ve written several times. Lemn cooks with his Ethiopian sister. He recites poems to his audience at the Ghion. You can hear the cloverleaf of language in the broadcast, where Amharic is spoken, though not by Lemn, who speaks English, though he is Ethiopian.

He shares this poem:

…When I found out I am Ethiopian, I come home, and I am asked how Ethiopian I am.

At the end of the day, you are home where you are accepted. No?

You make home where you are accepted, and, in making that home, you accept it.

Home is not one place.

“Home” can be complicated, whether we are connected to adoption or not. I’d argue that the roads to adoption and from adoption are especially complicated. Lemn writes that “home” is not one place. It’s certainly not just a house or hut or hospital room, because those can and do disappear, either physically or in our memories. Perhaps adoptees start in one place, and often travel through many places which others may call “home” but they don’t feel fully safe, fully comfortable, fully right–until they do, until they can claim it themselves, in a way that no one else can. Perhaps in a way that no one but an adopted person can understand fully.

The radio show is called by the BBC a “Comedy of the Week,” in (I suppose) the English major sense of “comedy:” not everyone dies, the situation of the protagonist goes from bad to good, there is a happy ending. (Is that how adoption goes? Sometimes. Not always.) You might not laugh out loud while you listen, though you’ll likely smile. You may sigh as well, thinking about the losses alluded to, the roads not travelled, the differences made by wrong turns, missed exits, sketchy directions.

Lemn Sissay writes that, at the end of the day, you are home where you are accepted. Another innovative thinker wrote that, “We are all just walking each other home.”

May we be kind to each other on our journeys, and may we stop to understand those whose lives intersect with ours along the way.

Part 1 of Lemn Sissay’s Homecoming broadcast is available here. Part 2 will be available May 12.