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Inua M. M. Ellams (born 23 October 1984) is a UK-based poet, playwright and performer.

Work

Ellams has written for the

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, St ...

Royal National Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...

and the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

. In June 2018, Ellams was elected as a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...

as part of its ''40 Under 40'' initiative.

Poetry

* ''Thirteen Fairy Negro Tales'' ( flipped eye, 2005) * ''Candy Coated Unicorns and Converse All Stars'' ( flipped eye, 2011) * ''The Wire-Headed Heathen'' (

Akashic Books Akashic Books is a Brooklyn-based independent publisher. Akashic Books' collection began with Arthur Nersesian's ''The Fuck Up'' in 1997, and has since expanded to include Dennis Cooper's "Little House on the Bowery" series, Chris Abani's Black ...

, 2016)

Featured in anthologies

''The Salt Book of Younger Poets'' (

Salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...

, 2011) * ''The Valley Press Anthology of Prose Poetry'' (Valley Press, 2019) * ''Ten: The New Wave'' ( Bloodaxe, 2014)

Performances and plays

''The 14th Tale''

Ellams's one-man show ''The 14th Tale'' was awarded an

Edinburgh Fringe First The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

at the

Edinburgh International Festival The Edinburgh International Festival is an annual arts festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, spread over the final three weeks in August. Notable figures from the international world of music (especially classical music) and the performing arts are i ...

in 2009 and later transferred to the Royal

National Theatre, London The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...

''Untitled''

A one-man show staged at the

Soho Theatre The Soho Theatre is a theatre and registered charity in the Soho district of the City of Westminster, in London, England. It produces and presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret, across three performance spaces. The the ...

in 2010, telling the story of twins born on Nigeria's independence day.

''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, masculinity, homosexuality and religion. The play was produced by the National Theatre, Fuel Theatre and

Leeds Playhouse Leeds Playhouse is a theatre in the city centre of Leeds, West Yorkshire. Having originally opened in 1970 in a different location in Leeds, it reopened as West Yorkshire Playhouse, on Quarry Hill, in March 1990. After a refurbishment in 2018-20 ...

and was shortlisted for the

Alfred Fagon Award The Alfred Fagon Award is granted annually for the best new play by a Black British playwright of Caribbean or African descent, resident in the United Kingdom. It was instituted in 1996 and first awarded in 1997, to recognise the work of Black Br ...

in 2017. Following a period of touring, the play was also performed at the Roundhouse in 2019, and a recording of the National Theatre production was streamed in May 2020 as part of the ''National Theatre at Home'' season. For the production, Ellams recorded 60 hours of "male banter" in barbershops all over Africa and in London at his barber Peter's shop ''Emmanuel's'' in

Clapham Junction Clapham Junction is an urban locality around Clapham Junction railway station in London, England. Despite its name, it is not located in Clapham, but forms the commercial centre of Battersea. Clapham Junction was a scene of disturbances durin ...

. This project originally did not secure funding.

''The Half God of Rainfall''

In April 2019 his new play, ''The Half God of Rainfall'', was presented at the

Birmingham Repertory Theatre Birmingham Repertory Theatre, commonly called Birmingham Rep or just The Rep, is a producing theatre based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England. Founded by Barry Jackson, it is the longest-established of Britain's building-based theatre c ...

, in advance of its run at London's

Kiln Theatre The Kiln Theatre (formerly the Tricycle Theatre) is a theatre located in Kilburn, London, Kilburn, in the London Borough of Brent, England. Since 1980, the theatre has presented a wide range of plays reflecting the cultural diversity of the ar ...

, as well as its publication as a book.

''Three Sisters''

In December 2019–February 2020 Ellams's reworking of

Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...

's play '' Three Sisters'' was performed at the Royal National Theatre, London. The play restaged the story in the 1960s in the midst of the

Biafran war The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Nigerian–Biafran War or the Biafran War, was a civil war fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared its independence f ...

in Nigeria.

''An Evening with an Immigrant''

In 2020 Ellams performed a live stage programme with anecdotes of his childhood and his experiences as a refugee. An excerpt was shown at the

Hay Festival The Hay Festival of Literature & Arts, better known as the Hay Festival ( cy, Gŵyl Y Gelli), is an annual literature festival held in Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales, for 10 days from May to June. Devised by Norman, Rhoda and Peter Florence in 1988, t ...

on 24 May 2020.

Awards

* 2008: winner of an Edinburgh Fringe First Award for ''The'' ''14th Tale''. * 2014: Live Canon International Poetry Prize. * 2017: shortlisted for the

, for ''The Barber Shop Chronicles''. * 2018: elected a Fellow of the

. * 2020: winner of the medal for Poetry at the

for ''The Half God of Rainfall'' and for ''The Barber Shop Chronicles'',

References

External links

Official websiteInterview with Inua Ellams
by ''The Poetry Extension'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Ellams, Inua 1984 births 21st-century British dramatists and playwrights 21st-century British male writers 21st-century British poets Black British writers British male dramatists and playwrights British male poets Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Living people People from Jos