Poetic Provocations

Title

First
Broadcast

Comments

Carrots

20220520

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

Exec producer, Eloise Whitmore

A Naked Production for BBC Radio 3

[Photo credit: Danny Kasirye]

Inua Ellams explores how African barber shops provide spaces where men can be vulnerable.

Dante

20220518

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.

The essayist

Essay 3: Dante / Basketball

Tracing basketball through the ages, from its invention by a Scottish immigrant in Canada to the early years of the sport, to the first time Inua encountered it in London, to the beauty of the game, to the racism he faced playing in Ireland, to developing asthma which drove him away from the sport, to hesitantly returning to the game as an adult and finding freedom within it. Inua looks to masculinity, hyper-masculinity, sports mythology within the game and hypotheses on why it's so alive in black and working-class communities, yet largely ignored by British sporting communities.

Essayist, Inua Ellams

Exec producer, Eloise Whitmore

A Naked Production for BBC Radio 3

[Photo credit: Danny Kasirye]

Inua Ellams explores why basketball is so alive in black and working-class communities.

Kipling

20220517

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.

The essayist

Essay 2: Kipling / Kipling's legacy

Inua considers Kipling's poem The White Man's Burden', the invention of race and racism, how its myth was evidenced in philosophy and biology in an endeavour to prop up the colonial enterprise and the slave trading industry, and how these beliefs still play out in the world, during the pandemic, across countries and cultures and in the death of George Floyd. As institutions struggle to, or refuse calls to, decolonise or make more inclusive programmes, it is left to artists and writers to undermine and critique, and Inua's final tongue-in-cheek poem, fantasising about Kipling's death, serves that very function.

Essayist, Inua Ellams

Exec producer, Eloise Whitmore

A Naked Production for BBC Radio 3

[Photo credit: Danny Kasirye]

Inua explores race and racism through Kipling's poem The White Man's Burden.

Sunflowers

20220519

What sparks a poem? How long does it take for an idea to become a poem? In a dynamic series of very personal essays, Writer 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.

Essay 4: Sunflowers / Steven Divine

Inua's best friend died by suicide when he was 17 years old in Dublin. It has plagued him all his life. His play Black T-Shirt was an attempt to understand what could drive a person to take their own life. It was also about black and African masculinity, but at its heart was Steven. A friend once complimented a student, a young black man she was teaching poetry. Instead of accepting the compliment, he turned violent, threw furniture around the room, insulted her, and left. He later apologised, saying he had never been complimented in his life, was about to cry in the class, but couldn't, so to save face, he flipped from one extreme emotion to the other. Inua talks about all this, the freedoms poetry has allowed in the ability to express emotion, how this freedom isn't available to a lot of men, and the society-wide repercussions.

A list of organisations that can help with feelings of despair is available at BBC.co.uk/actionline.

Essayist, Inua Ellams

Exec producer, Eloise Whitmore

A Naked Production for BBC Radio 3

[Photo credit: Danny Kasirye]

A very personal exploration of poetic starting points from writer Inua Ellams.

Tupac

20220516

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

Inua sets out the starting point and context for a poem, unpicking his relationship to its central themes, drawing on a wide range of social and cultural references. This is an in-depth and personal exploration of the process of creating individual poems from an award-winning young poet. Inua has the poet's gift of homing in on the simple and small-scale elements of the bigger picture, to create a satisfying and well nuanced kaleidoscope of ideas and experience. 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 1: Tupac / Elegy for a black music icon

Through the prism of a leading rapper, Inua explores his growth in political and racial awareness in understanding the nuances of hip-hop. The essay begins with his childhood in Nigeria and arrival in London the year Tupac died, but it was only when he lived in Ireland, hanging around the all-white basketball team who helped Inua make sense of Tupac's lyrics, that he came to a fuller understanding of his legacy. The poem is a lament and elegy for a musician and icon who died too young.

Please note that this programme contains one instance of the use of racist language.

Essayist, Inua Ellams

Exec producer, Eloise Whitmore

A Naked Production for BBC Radio 3

[Photo credit: Danny Kasirye]

Inua Ellams explores the impact of rapper 2Pac on his political and racial awareness.

Episodes

Title	First Broadcast	Comments
Carrots	20220520	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 Exec producer, Eloise Whitmore A Naked Production for BBC Radio 3 [Photo credit: Danny Kasirye] Inua Ellams explores how African barber shops provide spaces where men can be vulnerable.
Dante	20220518	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. The essayist 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 3: Dante / Basketball Tracing basketball through the ages, from its invention by a Scottish immigrant in Canada to the early years of the sport, to the first time Inua encountered it in London, to the beauty of the game, to the racism he faced playing in Ireland, to developing asthma which drove him away from the sport, to hesitantly returning to the game as an adult and finding freedom within it. Inua looks to masculinity, hyper-masculinity, sports mythology within the game and hypotheses on why it's so alive in black and working-class communities, yet largely ignored by British sporting communities. Essayist, Inua Ellams Exec producer, Eloise Whitmore A Naked Production for BBC Radio 3 [Photo credit: Danny Kasirye] Inua Ellams explores why basketball is so alive in black and working-class communities.
Kipling	20220517	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. The essayist 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 2: Kipling / Kipling's legacy Inua considers Kipling's poem The White Man's Burden', the invention of race and racism, how its myth was evidenced in philosophy and biology in an endeavour to prop up the colonial enterprise and the slave trading industry, and how these beliefs still play out in the world, during the pandemic, across countries and cultures and in the death of George Floyd. As institutions struggle to, or refuse calls to, decolonise or make more inclusive programmes, it is left to artists and writers to undermine and critique, and Inua's final tongue-in-cheek poem, fantasising about Kipling's death, serves that very function. Essayist, Inua Ellams Exec producer, Eloise Whitmore A Naked Production for BBC Radio 3 [Photo credit: Danny Kasirye] Inua explores race and racism through Kipling's poem The White Man's Burden.
Sunflowers	20220519	What sparks a poem? How long does it take for an idea to become a poem? In a dynamic series of very personal essays, Writer 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. Essay 4: Sunflowers / Steven Divine Inua's best friend died by suicide when he was 17 years old in Dublin. It has plagued him all his life. His play Black T-Shirt was an attempt to understand what could drive a person to take their own life. It was also about black and African masculinity, but at its heart was Steven. A friend once complimented a student, a young black man she was teaching poetry. Instead of accepting the compliment, he turned violent, threw furniture around the room, insulted her, and left. He later apologised, saying he had never been complimented in his life, was about to cry in the class, but couldn't, so to save face, he flipped from one extreme emotion to the other. Inua talks about all this, the freedoms poetry has allowed in the ability to express emotion, how this freedom isn't available to a lot of men, and the society-wide repercussions. A list of organisations that can help with feelings of despair is available at BBC.co.uk/actionline. Essayist, Inua Ellams Exec producer, Eloise Whitmore A Naked Production for BBC Radio 3 [Photo credit: Danny Kasirye] A very personal exploration of poetic starting points from writer Inua Ellams.
Tupac	20220516	What sparks a poem? How long does it take for an idea to become a poem? In a dynamic series of essays, Inua Ellams shares his personal experience of creating poetry, taking the listener on five vivid and varied journeys. Each essay culminates in a poem from his most recent collection, The Actual. Inua sets out the starting point and context for a poem, unpicking his relationship to its central themes, drawing on a wide range of social and cultural references. This is an in-depth and personal exploration of the process of creating individual poems from an award-winning young poet. Inua has the poet's gift of homing in on the simple and small-scale elements of the bigger picture, to create a satisfying and well nuanced kaleidoscope of ideas and experience. 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 1: Tupac / Elegy for a black music icon Through the prism of a leading rapper, Inua explores his growth in political and racial awareness in understanding the nuances of hip-hop. The essay begins with his childhood in Nigeria and arrival in London the year Tupac died, but it was only when he lived in Ireland, hanging around the all-white basketball team who helped Inua make sense of Tupac's lyrics, that he came to a fuller understanding of his legacy. The poem is a lament and elegy for a musician and icon who died too young. Please note that this programme contains one instance of the use of racist language. Essayist, Inua Ellams Exec producer, Eloise Whitmore A Naked Production for BBC Radio 3 [Photo credit: Danny Kasirye] Inua Ellams explores the impact of rapper 2Pac on his political and racial awareness.