Lemn Sissay has been named in the Queen’s annual Birthday Honours List (UK). The University of Manchester Chancellor, poet and playwright Lemn Sissay, has been awarded an OBE for services to Literature and Charity in the Queen’s Birthday Honour’s List.
Since taking up the Chancellorship in 2015, Lemn Sissay MBE has contributed to the University significantly on a local, national and international scale. In 2017 he launched the Lemn Sissay Law Bursaries, which aims to address underrepresentation of black males in the legal profession. Further afield, Lemn has helped the University expand our Equity and Merit Scholarships for funded master’s degrees to include prospective Ethiopian students. The Sissay PhD Scholarship for Care Leavers has been running for six years and The Lemn Sissay Foundation, established in Manchester, organises Christmas dinners for care leavers in locations across the UK. University President and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell said: “I’m sure I speak for our entire university community when I say this is a well-deserved honour for Lemn, and we offer him our warmest congratulations. His tireless work for literature goes hand in hand with his role as the University’s Chancellor where he has introduced The Lemn Sissay Law Bursary and was instrumental in extending our Equity and Merit Scholarships to Master’s students in Ethiopia. He is a well-loved member of the Manchester family and we’re delighted to see him get recognition for his work.”
The list recognises people who have given exceptional service to the UK abroad and internationally. He detailed his experiences in the British care system in his autobiography of his early life, My Name Is Why.