Lemn has just visited Karachi to perform at the Karachi Literature Festival and at The Second Floor (T2F) arts centre. While there, he also ran poetry workshops with students at Karachi University, a partner in the Pakistan Calling programme. Interviewed on the beach at Karachi, he discussed his work, audience responses and his time in Karachi.

Lemn Sissay was born in Lancashire, England, to Ethiopian parents. He is a poet, playwright, journalist and presenter working extensively on radio and television. He appears on the Leftfield album Leftism and is an associate artist at London’s Southbank Centre. His first collection of poetry, Tender Fingers In A Clenched Fist, was published when he was 20, and his plays have been produced by Contact Theatre and Radio 4.

Lemn has just adapted Benjamin Zephaniah’s novel Refugee Boy for The West Yorkshire Playhouse.

Footage courtesy of dawn.com