Poet and author Lemn Sissay will speak about his childhood in Wigan, on tonight's episode of BBC arts series Imagine.
Sissay, who was the official poet of the 2012 London Olympics and has been chancellor of the University of Manchester since 2015, was born in Higher End in May 1967.
On tonight's episode of Imagine, titled 'Lemn Sissay: The Memory of Me', the writer will speak to host Alan Yentob about what it was like to grow up as the "only black child in a sleepy market town outside Wigan " in the 1970s.
The episode follows the publication of Sissay's memoir 'My Name is Why'. A synopsis of the episode on the BBC website reads: "Before being catapulted into the broken care system at the dawn of the 1980s, he was separated from his foster family at the tender age of twelve and left to fend for himself.
"His journey since has been one of discovery: learning not just that his name was Lemn, but that his parents were Ethiopian, a country he returns to for this film to find out more about his roots."
The show will also feature contributions from some of the well-known names he has shared the stage with, such as Steve Coogan, Benjamin Zephaniah, Linton Kwesi Johnson and Julie Hesmondhalgh, as well as his close network of friends and supporters from his years in care.
Imagine - Lemn Sissay: The Memory of Me will air on BBC One at 10.45pm tonight (July 23).
