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Echoes of The Orisha

Join acclaimed novelist, poet and playwright, Inua Ellams, author of The Half-God of Rainfall and hit play, Barber Shop Chronicles, Ashley Thorpe, author of The Boy to Beat the Gods, and Chikodili Emelumadu, author of Dazzling, to celebrate the extraordinary tales of West African mythology.

About the Authors

Inua Ellams Headshot

Inua Ellams

Born in Nigeria, Inua Ellams is a poet, playwright & performer, graphic artist & designer and founder of The Midnight Run, an arts-filled, night-time, urban walking experience, The Rhythm and Poetry Party (The R.A.P Party) which celebrates poetry & hip hop, and Poetry + Film / Hack (P+F/H) which celebrates Poetry and Film. Identity, Displacement & Destiny are reoccurring themes in his work, where he tries to mix the old with the new: traditional African oral storytelling with contemporary poetics, paint with pixel, texture with vector.

Chikodili Emelumadu Headshot

Chikodili Emelumadu

Chikodili Emelumadu was born in Worksop, Nottinghamshire and raised in Awka, Nigeria. A product of not one but two Nigerian boarding schools, she went on to attend Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Nigeria and the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. She was the winner of the Curtis Brown First Novel Prize in 2019. Her work has also been shortlisted for the Shirley Jackson Awards (2015), a Nommo Award (2020) and the Caine Prize for African Literature (2017 & 2020).

Ashley Thorpe Headshot

Ashley Thorpe

Ashley Thorpe, a Black British debut author and editor at Storymix, guides writers in crafting compelling narratives. His mission is to imbue literature with diverse characters he yearned for in his youth. When not immersed in writing or reading, he finds joy in music, outdoor activities, anime, and gaming. Residing in Manchester, The Boy to Beat the Gods is his first book.