Spotlight on Inua Ellams [Catch a Vibe]

Ahead of his play The 14th Tale being picked up at the National Theatre, Inua Ellams met up with Catch a Vibe to talk about poetry and his numerous projects.

Catch a Vibe: When did you decide to become a Poet?
Inua Ellams: I didn't decide to become a poet. It was by accident. I wrote a poem and my English teacher told me it wasn't bad. I didn't think of it as a poem just me writing rubbish on paper. Then a friend of mine dared me to write a sonnet, which I did, but even then there were just far too much obscure hip-hop references for it to qualify as literature, or so I thought. Then I came to London from Dublin and another friend of mine played me a CD – Amethyst Rockstar by Saul Williams  and I saw what he tried to do with literature and I wanted to do the same thing. So I began to chase it… I guess I didn't really see myself as a poet until people started calling me a poet.

Read the rest of the interview online at: http://www.catchavibe.co.uk/spotlight-on-poet-inua-ellams/5605/

posted at 7:32 AM