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What sparks a poem? How long does it take for an idea to become a poem? In a dynamic series of very personal essays, Inua Ellams shares his own experience of creating poetry, taking the listener on five vivid and varied journeys. Each essay culminates in a poem taken from his most recent collection, The Actual.

Inua sets out the starting point and context for a poem, unpicking his relationship to its central motifs and themes, drawing on a wide range of social and cultural references. The series offers an in-depth and personal exploration of the process of creating individual poems from an award winning young poet. Poetic Provocations invites the listener into a poet’s mind and process with refreshing honesty, warm wit, political analysis and insight.

Born in Nigeria in 1984, Inua Ellams is an internationally touring poet, playwright, performer, graphic artist and designer. He is an ambassador for the Ministry of Stories and his published books of poetry include Candy Coated Unicorns and Converse All Stars, Thirteen Fairy Negro Tales, The Wire-Headed Heathen, #Afterhours and The Half-God of Rainfall – an epic story in verse. His first play, The 14th Tale, was awarded a Fringe First at Edinburgh International Theatre Festival and his fourth, Barber Shop Chronicles, sold out two runs at England’s National Theatre. He is currently touring An Evening with an Immigrant and working on various commissions across stage and screen. He founded the Midnight Run in London, a nocturnal urban excursion, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature

Essay 5: Kenyan Barber Shop Chronicles

Inua’s play, Barber Shop Chronicles, was a huge success, touring non-stop for three years across the US and UK and streamed to half a million people during the first lockdown. However, it was never meant to be a play. The initial idea was to write a sequence of poems about barbers and their clients, about the need for safe spaces where men can be vulnerable. Inua travelled to six African countries, returning with 60 hours' worth of recorded interviews, yet one whole country, Kenya, was cut from the play. In this final essay, Inua revisits the Kenyan recordings and the men he met there, which gave rise to a final poem, the only one he has ever written about barber shops.

Essayist, Inua Ellams
Producer, Polly Thomas
Exec producer, Eloise Whitmore

A Naked Production for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 3

[Photo credit: Danny Kasirye]