Back in 2009, writer Inua Ellams won a Fringe First award in Edinburgh for his one-man play, The 14th Tale. This story, featuring a soundtrack by Fela Kuti, about a mischievous kid from Nigeria who moves with his family from Africa to Europe was based on Ellams’ own life. Over two decades, the 39-year-old has written poetry, plays, short stories, TV scripts and essays about immigration, identity, the African diaspora, homosexuality, football, capitalism, language, and what it means to be a Black male in the UK today.

As part of international poetry festival Push The Boat Out, Ellams invites an audience to delve into his rich and broad back-catalogue through a Search Party. The concept is simple: Ellams steps onstage with an iPad containing all his writing so far, including unfinished fragments. The audience shout out words and he searches his personal archive to see what comes up. It makes for an interactive, fun evening with no two shows the same. ‘We steer the night together,’ he says. ‘Sometimes it’s joyous and illuminating, occasionally it has got really dark. If someone calls out something I don’t have, we can negotiate a close alternative with a synonym. If someone called out Palestine, for example, I could read something I’ve written on conflict or extremism, or make parallels with Nigeria, a country which has experienced a lot of sectarian violence.’

Having performed around the world  (Malaysia, Libya, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Australia, New Zealand and America) as well as closer to home at London’s Barbican and Shakespeare’s Globe, Ellams always tries to find links between his work and the places he’s visiting. ‘Only if I know the local culture well enough,’ he insists. ‘I love the work of Scottish poet and novelist Jackie Kay, who is also of Nigerian heritage. I’m very inspired too by the mind and politics of Tom Leonard, a fantastic champion of Scots vernacular and a great, forthright, anti-colonial writer.’ The relationship between Scots language and English interests Ellams, together with notions of class, identity and nationality with which everything becomes entangled. Coming from Nigeria where there are over 500 languages and dialects, Ellams has seen how attitudes to Nigerian pidgin has changed in his lifetime. 

‘There has been a recent explosion in the use of pidgin, in films and literature,’ he states. ‘With so many dialects, pidgin is the connective tissue; it is no longer looked down upon as it has been in the past, but spoken by the wealthiest and most intellectual people.’  

As someone who is usually working on six or seven projects at a time, Ellams finds live audiences helpful to his creative process. ‘I often host writing workshops and live events; those interactions help me build confidence to be more open as a writer.’ A cross-disciplinary artist, Ellams is a big fan of hip-hop music and culture, and has curated his own R.A.P (Rhythm And Poetry) Party events, inviting poets and DJs to share tunes and lyrics that they love. Ellams will also be taking part in an afternoon Songwriters Circle with Edinburgh singers Hamish Hawk and Karine Polwart, discussing the importance of poetry and songwriting, and giving insights into their own work. 

‘There is a musicality to my writing, something mellifluous,’ Ellams explains. ‘I’m working on an opera about migration, tracing the journey of unaccompanied minors from places like Eritrea, Sudan and Libya across the Mediterranean to mainland Europe. I’m looking forward to a discussion because musical matters are definitely at the forefront of my brain right now.’

Songwriters Circle, Saturday 25 November; Inua Ellams: Search Party, Sunday 26 November; both events at Summerhall, Edinburgh.