Inua Ellams: Poetry and The Broken Hearted (Video)

“I started writing poetry in 2001… because I couldn’t afford paint.”

25 year old Inua Ellams: born in Nigeria but resides in London where he spends his days and nights busily establishing himself as one of the city’s most buzzworthy visual and verbal artists.  As part of his word domination, he has performed all around the country and is a member of a growing number of poetry and creative collectives including OneTaste, A Poem In Between People, Malika’s Poetry Kitchen, NewBlood, Generation Txt… and probably several others since I began writing this paragraph.

“I’m from a long line of trouble makers, of ash skinned Africans, born with clenched fists and a natural thirst for battle, only quenched by breast milk.”

- The above quote hollers from his self-penned play: The 14th Tale, which opens at London’s National Theatre in the second week of February. A biographical coming of age story, the one-person play charts his experiences growing up in Nigeria, being schooled in Ireland and returning to England, where his career currently blossoms.

Watch Inua talk about his play, his poetry – and the life experiences that inspire both – along with a performance of his poem “What Becomes of The Broken Hearted”, in our video:

The 14th Tale will be at the National Theatre (London) for 10 performances between 9 February – 13 March.
All tickets are priced at £10 – nationaltheatre.org.uk

Win a pair of tickets to see the show in March by emailing comps@soulculture.co.uk with your contact details, stating which date you’d like to see the show.

Inua Ellams online: phaze05.com / @InuaEllams / MySpace