Inua Ellams is a Nigerian poet, playwright and performer. He was born in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria in 1984. He has seven published books including ‘Thirteen Fairy Negro Tales’ (Poetry, 2005) ‘The 14th Tale’ (Play, 2009) – which was commissioned by the Battersea Arts Centre and awarded a Fringe First at the Edinburgh Festival, before a sold out run at The National Theatre in London, England. His third theatre piece, ‘Black T-Shirt Collection’ (Play, Oberon: 2012) also completed a sold out run at the National Theatre in 2012. His poems have been published in various magazines and anthologies. Working also a graphic designer and visual artist, Inua’s work is imbibed with plentiful imagery – the starting point of his poems, and further, he describes the one-man shows he writes and performs as failed ‘poems’. Inua Ellams acknowledges that as biographies go, this is essentially a gathered list of achievements that say nothing about his personality, thus, promises he is a nice guy. ‘Trust me…’ he says ‘… I’m Nigerian’.
