Lemn Sissay, writer and poet, was taken from his Ethiopian mother at birth and after a stinging rejection from foster parents at 12 spent his childhood in care. He published his first book of poetry age 17 and sold it to striking miners in Lancashire. Although a large part of him will ‘always feel like that rootless kid’, poetry, he says, gave him wings and he began his travels not just around the world but also the both physical and emotional journey to find his birth family. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices