Samantha Ellis

Samantha Ellis
Born
London, England
Alma materQueens' College, Cambridge
OccupationsPlaywright and writer
AwardsRunner-up for the National Student Drama Festival Playwriting Award 1996 for The Candy Jar. Shortlisted for the Wingate Award for Chopping Onions on my Heart
Websitesamanthaellis.me.uk

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], published in the US under the title Always Carry Salt.[4] and shortlisted for the Wingate Award.[5]

Early life

Ellis was born in London, England, to Iraqi-Jewish parents.[6][7] [8]She studied English at Queens' College, Cambridge.

Career and works

Ellis's play The Candy Jar was produced at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1996.[9] It was the runner-up for the 1996 National Student Drama Award for Playwriting. She worked as a journalist, and wrote a column on theatrical history for The Guardian newspaper.[10]

Her play Patching Havoc was produced at Theatre503 in 2003.[11] 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.[12] Her short play A Sudden Visitation of Calamity was produced at Menagerie Theatre in 2008.[13] In 2010 her play The Thousand and Second Night was produced by LAMDA. In 2010, her play Cling to Me Like Ivy, published by Nick Hern Books,[14] was produced by the Birmingham Repertory Theatre and went on tour.[15][16] In 2012, she was a founder member of women's theatre company Agent 160.[17]

Her book How to be a Heroine was published by Chatto & Windus in January 2014;[18] and her biography of Anne Brontë, Take Courage: Anne Bronte and the Art of Life was published in January 2017.[19] In the same years, Ellis worked on the screenplays of Paddington and Paddington 2.[20] In 2016, her play How to Date a Feminist was produced at the Arcola Theatre. The Evening Standard called it "witty, slyly provocative and simply downright lovely"[21] and Exeunt called it "a whip-smart romp...wonderfully funny."[22]. It has been produced several times in Germany and other places.[23]

Her third book, Chopping Onions on My Heart,[24] was published by Chatto & Windus in 2025. The Guardian called it "a linguistic feast",[25] and The Observer called it "a gift to the future".[3] It was published in the US under the title Always Carry Salt and called "an urgent and tender exploration of cultural extinction...an act of cultural rescue" by the Jewish Book Council [26]

Bibliography

Books

Chopping Onions on my Heart, Chatto & Windus, 2025, ISBN 9781784745028; published in the US as Always Carry Salt, Pegasus Books, 2026, ISBN 9798897100286

Take Courage: Anne Brontë and the Art of Life, Chatto & Windus, 2017, ISBN 9781784701116

How to be a Heroine, Chatto & Windus, 2014, ISBN 9780099575566

Plays

Cling to me Like Ivy, Nick Hern Books, 2010, ISBN 9781848420656

How to Date a Feminist, Nick Hern Books, 2016, ISBN 9781780018188

15 Heroines, Nick Hern Books, 2020, ISBN 9781788503532

Prefaces

Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë, Vintage Books, 2017, ISBN 9781784872397 A Lady and her Husband by Amber Reeves, Persephone Books, 2018, ISBN 9781910263068


References

  1. ^ "How to be a Heroine by Samantha Ellis – review". The Guardian. 4 January 2014.
  2. ^ "How to Date a Feminist". Nick Hern Books.
  3. ^ a b Merritt, Stephanie (6 April 2025). "Chopping Onions on My Heart by Samantha Ellis review – an Iraqi Jew's celebration of an endangered culture". The Observer.
  4. ^ "Always Carry Salt: A Memoir of Preserving Language and Culture | Pegasus Books". pegasusbookstore.com. 6 January 2026. Retrieved 6 January 2026.
  5. ^ "Shortlist announced for the 2026 Wingate Prize – Wingate Foundation". Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  6. ^ "VINTAGE". vintage-books.co.uk.
  7. ^ Nathan, John (11 February 2010). "Interview: Samantha Ellis". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
  8. ^ https://www.jewishfoodsociety.org/stories/writer-samantha-ellis-cooks-her-way-back-to-the-iraqi-jewish-kitchen
  9. ^ Ellis, Samantha (19 August 2002). "Aaaargggh! it's Edinburgh". Prospect.
  10. ^ Ellis, Samantha. "Samantha Ellis". The Guardian. London.
  11. ^ "US". Independent.co.uk.
  12. ^ "What's On: Main Stage: Overview". Archived from the original on 12 January 2011. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
  13. ^ "Associate Playwrights - Menagerie Theatre Company". menagerietheatre.co.uk.
  14. ^ http://nickhernbooks.co.uk/index.cfm?nid=025E2296-E2B2-4246-8FA9-9E54784CFB37&isbn=9781848420656&sr
  15. ^ Gardner, Lyn (17 February 2010). "Cling to Me Like Ivy". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
  16. ^ "What's On". Archived from the original on 11 September 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
  17. ^ "AGENT 160 PRESENTS Agent 160 - LAUNCH SHOW". Retrieved 21 May 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  18. ^ Groskop, Viv (4 January 2014). "How to be a Heroine by Samantha Ellis – review". The Guardian.
  19. ^ Goodwin, Daisy (7 January 2017). "Take Courage: Anne Brontë and the Art of Life by Samantha Ellis". The Times.
  20. ^ "Samantha Ellis at Greene & Heaton". Greene & Heaton.
  21. ^ https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/theatre/how-to-date-a-feminist-theatre-review-witty-slyly-provocative-and-quite-simply-downright-lovely-a3342351.html
  22. ^ https://exeuntmagazine.com/reviews/review-date-feminist-arcola/
  23. ^ https://www.rowohlt-theaterverlag.de/autorin/samantha-ellis-113
  24. ^ "Chopping Onions on My Heart". penguin.co.uk.
  25. ^ Kahn-Harris, Keith (18 April 2025). "Chopping Onions on My Heart by Samantha Ellis review – can you save a culture?". The Guardian.
  26. ^ https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/always-carry-salt-a-memoir-of-preserving-language-and-culture
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