Inua Ellams
Inua Ellams | |
---|---|
Born | Inua Marc Mohammed Onore de Ellams II 23 October 1984 Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria |
Citizenship | Nigeria |
Education | Firhouse Community College, Dublin, Ireland |
Occupation | Poet, playwright |
Known for | Barber Shop Chronicles |
Inua M. M. Ellams[1][2] FRSL [3] (born 23 October 1984)[1] is a UK-based poet, playwright and performer.
Contents
Work
Ellams has written for the Royal Shakespeare Company,[4] Royal National Theatre and the BBC. In June 2018, Ellams was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature as part of its 40 Under 40 initiative.[3][5]
Poetry
Thirteen Fairy Negro Tales (flipped eye, 2005)
Candy Coated Unicorns and Converse All Stars (flipped eye, 2011)
The Wire-Headed Heathen (Akashic Books, 2016)
Featured in anthologies
The Salt Book of Younger Poets (Salt, 2011)[6][citation needed]
The Valley Press Anthology of Prose Poetry (Valley Press, 2019)[citation needed]
Ten: The New Wave (Bloodaxe, 2014)[6][citation needed]
Performances and plays
The 14th Tale
Ellams's one-man show The 14th Tale was awarded an Edinburgh Fringe First at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2009 and later transferred to the Royal National Theatre, London.[7]
Untitled
A one-man show staged at the Soho Theatre in 2010,[8] telling the story of twins born on Nigeria's independence day.[9]
Barber Shop Chronicles
Barber Shop Chronicles is a play set in black barber shops in six cities on one day, against the backdrop of a football match between Chelsea and Barcelona. The play explores the African diaspora in the UK,[10] masculinity, homosexuality and religion. The play was produced by the National Theatre, Fuel Theatre and Leeds Playhouse and was shortlisted for the Alfred Fagon Award in 2017.[11] Following a period of touring, the play was also performed at the Roundhouse in 2019,[12] and a recording of the National Theatre production was streamed in May 2020 as part of the National Theatre at Home season.[13] For the production, Ellams recorded 60 hours of "male banter"[14] in barbershops all over Africa and in London at his barber Peter's shop Emmanuel's in Clapham Junction.[14] This project originally did not secure funding.[15]
The Half God of Rainfall
In April 2019 his new play, The Half God of Rainfall, was presented at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre,[16] in advance of its run at London's Kiln Theatre, as well as its publication as a book.[17]
Three Sisters
In December 2019–February 2020 Ellams's reworking of Chekhov's play Three Sisters was performed at the Royal National Theatre, London.[18] The play restaged the story in the 1960s in the midst of the Biafran war in Nigeria.[19]
An Evening with an Immigrant
In 2020 Ellams hperformed a live stage programme with anecdotes of his childhood and his experiences as a refugee. An excerpt was shown at the Hay Festival on 24 May 2020.[7]
Awards
- 2008: winner of an Edinburgh Fringe First Award for The 14th Tale.[20]
- 2014: Live Canon International Poetry Prize.[7][21]
- 2017: shortlisted for the Alfred Fagon Award, for The Barber Shop Chronicles.[11]
- 2018: elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.[5]
- 2020: winner of the medal for Poetry at the Hay Festival for The Half God of Rainfall and for The Barber Shop Chronicles,
References
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External links
- Official website
- Interview with Inua Ellams by The Poetry Extension
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- Pages with reference errors
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- Articles with unsourced statements from December 2021
- People from Jos
- Black British writers
- 1984 births
- 21st-century British poets
- Living people
- Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature
- 21st-century British dramatists and playwrights
- British male dramatists and playwrights
- British male poets
- 21st-century British male writers