Samantha Ellis | |
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Born | London, England |
Alma mater | Queens' College, Cambridge |
Occupation(s) | Playwright and writer |
Website | samanthaellis |
Samantha Ellis is a British playwright and writer best known for her book How to be a Heroine , [1] her play How to Date a Feminist , [2] and her book Chopping Onions on my Heart. [3]
Ellis was born in London, England, to Iraqi-Jewish parents. [4] [5] She studied English at Queens' College, Cambridge.
Ellis's play The Candy Jar was produced at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1996. [6] She worked as a journalist, and wrote a column on theatrical history for The Guardian newspaper. [7]
Her play Patching Havoc was produced at Theatre503 in 2003. [8] Her radio play Sugar and Snow, set in the Kurdish community in north London, was produced on BBC Radio 4 in 2006 and given a reading at the Hampstead Theatre. [9] Her short play A Sudden Visitation of Calamity was produced at Menagerie Theatre in 2008. [10] In 2010 her play The Thousand and Second Night was produced by LAMDA.[ citation needed ] In 2010, her play Cling To Me Like Ivy, published by Nick Hern Books, [11] was produced by the Birmingham Repertory Theatre and went on tour. [12] [13] In 2012, she was a founder member of women's theatre company Agent 160. [14]
Her book How to be a Heroine was published by Chatto & Windus in January 2014, [15] and her biography of Anne Brontë Take Courage: Anne Bronte and the Art of Life was published in January 2017. [16] Her third book, Chopping Onions on my Heart, [17] was published by Chatto & Windus in 2025. The Guardian called it "a linguistic feast", [18] and The Observer called it "a gift to the future". [3]