News at Eleven: Despite a childhood she describes as full of love,

[Jackie] Kay always had a lingering emptiness inside, the knowledge that her parents had given her away gnawing away at her a little. 'I've spoken to a lot of adopted people and many of them have that sense of emptiness,' she says. 'I think at some very deep level the knowledge that you've been given up for adoption as a baby, that your original parents shipped you out, it's almost an existential thing to deal with. Although all of us are alone in our various different ways, the state of being adopted can make you feel even more alone, even when you've got wonderful parents. That's the contradiction.'

from The List: Edinburgh Festival Guide: Jackie Kay: Finding Family

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