Sissay is one of Britain's best-loved poets and performers. His verse has appeared widely across BBC Radio 4, BBC TV, and broadsheet media. In 2015 he was appointed as Chancellor of the University of Manchester for a seven-year term, he was a Judge of the Golden Man Booker Prize in 2018, and he won the PEN Pinter Prize in 2019 
 
My Name Is Why will appeal to fans of Cathy Rentzenbrink's The Last Act of Love, Jackie Kay's Red Dust Road and Matt Haig's Reasons to Stay Alive