Welcome to June x

I spent a third of the last month in Singapore and Indonesia. Singapore always feels like being inside a giant shopping mall, but Indonesia, Bali specifically, was a humbling experience. The poet, Jack Gilbert, was asked a question about his time living in its jungle, to which her replied “If you don’t know, I can’t tell you.” Jack is one of the most gifted poets I have read, and to describe this, language failed him. What I can say is this: having experienced a plainer way to be, I have to simplify my life to ‘yes’ and ‘no’, to reduce my slate of work, to find air; rather than the 20 or so plates I’m constantly spinning, 5 no more. The whittling process has begun.

Now, Remember the formula? 4 News items & something to watch…

x

1 / Fundraiser / The Bike Project 

Tomorrow, I’ll be cycling 50km, fundraising for The Bike Project – a beautiful charity that donate bikes to refugees and people seeking asylum, giving them access, freedom, and independence.

Throughout this day-long ride I'll connect with refugee support organisations: Women for Refugee Women, Bread Winners and Young Roots, to find out more about the life-changing support they provide, before ending the ride at The Bike Project workshop. Each of these organisations have been supported by Choose Love and are referral partners of The Bike Project.

My documented conversations with each of these incredible organisations will be shared on social media at the end of June. For now, please consider supporting and showing a little love for this daunting ride. This is gonna be a physical challenge for me, but fare less than the difficulty of rebuilding a life. Please give what you can in solidarity with people who move.

Donate / Here

x

2 / Redacted / Is Back

Redacted celebrates play and invention with blackout poetry, which is created when text is taken from a book, newspaper, or magazine and, by redacting words and entire sentences, hidden poetry is revealed!

We’ll be redacting a page from Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Regularly named one of the greatest 100 novels of all time, it is also one of the most banned – a dystopian classic which has turned out to be more prescient than anyone could have hoped. In this interactive blend of performance, conversation and revelation, guests and audience (yes, you too) will turn the violence of literary censorship on its head and explore how meaning and beauty can found in the deliberate act of erasure.

I’ll be joined by Shami Chakrabarti, Jenni Fagan, Luke Harding, Wayne Holloway-Smith, Jenny Kleeman, Barry Sadid, Chris Thorpe, Otegha Uwagba and Mariah Wilde. Come through!

Thu / 18 Jun 2026
The London Library
Time / 7 - 9pm
Tix / £14 - / £18
Book / Here

x

3 / Its Sounds Like Courage / x

Co-curated and introduced by world-renowned sitar player and activist Anoushka Shankar, It Sounds Like Courage brings a unique blend of artists who stand in solidarity with displaced people all over the world.

Hosted by comedian Nish Kumar, this show brings together performances from award-winning Palestinian musician Nai Barghouti, renowned Kora virtuoso Seckou Keita, Afrofusion rapper MoYah, Mercury Prize-nominated songwriter Nadine Shah, soul singer Nectar Woode and the London Contemporary Orchestra conducted by Robert Ames, and Citizens of the World Choir, made up of singers with lived experience of displacement and allies. Plus, poetry from award-winning poets, Nikita Gill, Salena Godden - and me.

It Sounds Like Courage is a night to imagine new possibilities together, with community and solidarity at its centre. This event sits at the heart of Refugee Week during our 75th anniversary year and is presented in partnership with Counterpoints Arts.

Fri 26 June 2026 
Southbank Centre
Time / 7.30pm
Tix / From £22.
Book / Here

x

4 / Search Party / First Light

I’m back on Search Party duties, at First Light festival in Lowestoft. If you are planning on coming, make sure to swing by. And if you aren’t but have the weekend free, maybe you should consider coming because it is such a vibe and there is a lot happening across the weekend: musicians, comedians and a lot of other poets.

About Search Party: Pick a word, any word. Prompted by audience suggestions, Inua Ellams will search through his extensive archive of work and perform a reactive and spontaneous selection. Each show is unique and special.

Sat June 20, 2026
First Light Festival
Time / 16:00 – 17:00
Stage / First Word

Info / Here 

x

5 / Moleskine / Workshops

I almost exclusively write in Moleskine notebooks. I’ve been using them for over 20 years now, and the video above explains why. Handwriting is crucial to writing, to brain function, knowledge development, memory, intelligence, creation… the list goes on and on.

I have also been collaborating with them on a series of very, very intimate workshops (9 people only) in the gorgeous pop up shop, and the last one is next Wednesday in London. You’ll get a bespoke notebook, but most importantly spend 90 mins discussing and writing poetry with me.

Book / here
Wed / June 10 2026
Time / 7 PM - 8:30 PM
Moleskine
Battersea Power Station
London, England

But for now just watch the clip above, then get a pen and paper to make something.

x

Thanks for reading. See you soon. As always, any questions, holleratchaboy.
Best, Inua, Adrian, Monica, Tone & Sid Mercutaio.

inuaellams.com
#Thasswassup

x