Lemn Sissay MBE joins the Board of the Foundling Museum
The Foundling Museum is delighted to announce that award-winning poet, playwright and author Lemn Sissay, MBE has been appointed to its Board of Trustees.
Sissay’s current roles include Chancellor of the University of Manchester, Associate Artist at the Southbank Centre, Patron of the Letterbox Club supporting children in care, Ambassador for the Children’s Reading Fund, Trustee of Forward Arts Foundation, and Foundling Fellow at the Foundling Museum.
Sissay’s internationally acclaimed career as a writer began in 1988, when he published his first book of poetry aged 21. He was the first official poet of the 2012 London Olympics and his Landmark Poems are installed at sites across London and Manchester. Sissay was awarded an MBE for services to literature in 2010, and holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Huddersfield, which runs the innovative Sissay Scholarship for Care Leavers, the first of its kind in the world.
For his Foundling Fellowship, Sissay created a striking text-based work for the Museum’s Café in 2014, Superman was a Foundling, which explores the powerful role of orphaned, fostered and adopted children in our culture.
Speaking about the appointment, Sissay said:
‘The Foundling Museum is a unique place where extraordinary and important stories are told. The Museum has a very special place in my heart, and I am looking forward to playing a part in shaping its continued growth and success.’
Larissa Joy, Chair of the Board of Trustees, said:
‘I am thrilled that Lemn has accepted our invitation to join the Board. Lemn’s extraordinary empathy with the work of the Foundling Museum and Coram, and the creative contribution Lemn has made over past years as a Fellow of the Museum, have already had a profound and positive impact on so many visitors to the Museum. We look forward with huge excitement to continuing to develop this relationship in the years ahead.’
