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

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.

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LS

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

View all 203 →

Joan Jett American singer, songwriter and guitarist

I don’t think I’d change anything: the bad forms you more than the good.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 November 2020 source ↗

Ann Dowd American actress

I would try to be a little nicer to my teachers.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 January 2022 source ↗

Ethan Hawke Actor, director and novelist

Too many things to mention.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 April 2015 source ↗

Helen George English actress

Going through a divorce.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 January 2023 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 When were you most embarrassed? Failure & regret

Also my most triumphant: 2017 at the Royal Court. Julie Hesmondhalgh reads my psychologist’s report over two hours. Every excruciating intimate word of it. Extreme verbatim theatre. One night only.

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

Question What do you fear most? Identity & self

That I can’t write.

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 ↗

Question What lesson has mattered most in your life? Time & hindsight

Life is not worth living if there is no one you would die for.

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

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