Samantha Ellis

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]

Samantha Ellis
Born	London, England
Alma mater	Queens' College, Cambridge
Occupation(s)	Playwright and writer
Website	samanthaellis.me.uk

Early life

Ellis was born in London, England, to Iraqi-Jewish parents.^[4][5] She studied English at Queens' College, Cambridge.

Career and works

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]