Samantha Ellis

Samantha grew up in the Iraqi Jewish community in London.

Her reading memoir HOW TO BE A HEROINE was published by Chatto & Windus in 2014, and TAKE COURAGE: ANNE BRONTË AND THE ART OF LIFE was published by Chatto in 2017. She’s also written prefaces for Persephone Books’s edition of A Lady and Her Husband, and for Vintage’s edition of Agnes Grey.

Her plays include CLING TO ME LIKE IVY, HOW TO DATE A FEMINIST and I’M STILL BURNING, all published by Nick Hern Books. She worked on the screenplays of PADDINGTON and PADDINGTON 2.

As a journalist she has freelanced for various publications. She’s also been a MacDowell Colony Fellow, chair of judges for the Jewish Quarterly Wingate Award, part of the Royal Court Theatre’s Jewish Study Group, and is a regular on Backlisted podcast.

Photo Credit: Jules Rogers