Lemn Sissay (b. 1967) is an Ethiopian-British poet, performer, author and broadcaster. Born in England in 1968 to a woman who had recently migrated from Ethiopia, he was put in foster care for what his mother thought would be a brief time. Despite her protests to the British authorities, he was never returned to her but lived first in foster care and then in a series of residential facilities for State kids until he was 18 years of age. Lemn didn't find out his birth name - he grew up as Norman Greenwood - until he was 17. After leaving 'care' Lemn went on to search for his family, and to write a number of books of poetry with the first published when he was just 21 years of age. In 2018 Lemn was compensated by Wigan council for his childhood in 'care'. Lemn Sissay is currently Chancellor of the University of Manchester, and the Lemn Sissay PhD scholarship for care leavers is available from the University of Huddersfield.