Lemn Sissay: If you could revise one chapter of your past, what would you change?

The question

If you could revise one chapter of your past, what would you change?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

Repeated verbatim in The Guardian's long-running Saturday Q&A; two publisher-hosted examples establish recurrence.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Lemn Sissay

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

I would build relationships. I would remember people’s significant moments. I would not fear closeness.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 October 2023 source ↗

Others on this question

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Mandy Patinkin American actor and singer

I would have been a better listener. I would have pursued more friendships instead of focusing so much on work and myself. I’m doing all that now, but I’m running out of time.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 October 2019 source ↗

Mary McCartney English photographer and cookbook author

Through food, I’ve become more interested in the protection of soil, the way things are grown, and biodiversity. I’d have become a quantum physicist!

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 February 2022 source ↗

Romola Garai

I’d probably take out a lot of my 20s, when I was rude, annoying and a brat.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 September 2024 source ↗

Rosanna Arquette American actress

I would have skipped the time my daughter was nine to 13, when I was in a toxic relationship.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 August 2021 source ↗

More from Lemn Sissay

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Question What is the harshest thing anyone has said to you? Failure & regret

When I was a child, a member of staff at Wood End Assessment Centre [a former children’s home in Wigan] bellowed: “He copies them poems off of Bob Marley records.”

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 October 2023 source ↗

Question How close have you come to dying? Death & what remains

I made a suicide attempt at 12 or 13 years old.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 October 2023 source ↗

Question What disappointment has stayed with you longest? Failure & regret

I spent my life searching for family. I travelled around the world to look each one of them in the eye. Unfortunately, but understandably, for most of them, I am their biggest disappointment.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 October 2023 source ↗