The Weight of Difference: Inua Ellams on Identity, Abandonment, and Creative Survival

In this episode of Stories That Stay, hosts Shamm H. Petros and Dwight Dunston sit down with Inua Ellams—poet, playwright, performer, and creative force—to explore the first edges of difference and the lifelong echoes of separation.At age four, Inua and his twin sister were placed in different classrooms. What began as a child’s tantrum became an early lesson in loss, identity, and independence. Through mindful reflection and somatic awareness, Inua revisits that moment and traces how it shaped his art, his sense of belonging, and his navigation of a world marked by migration and disconnection.Together, they explore masculinity, vulnerability, and the tension between feeling and intellect. Inua speaks candidly about the cost of noticing, the burden of creation, and the fear that our hyper-connected world is losing touch with emotion itself.“Sometimes I wonder if being a poet helps or hinders the process.” “The memory prepared me for the journeys I had to take—to become an immigrant, to survive.”What you’ll hear • Grounding breath and mindful arrival • Earliest memories of difference • Naming and scaling emotions • Connection between trauma and creativity • Closing reflections on fear, faith, and artistic survivalAbout Inua Ellams Born in Jos, Nigeria, and raised in the UK and Ireland, Inua Ellams is a poet, playwright, screenwriter, and graphic artist. His acclaimed works include Barbershop Chronicles, Three Sisters, and The Half-God of Rainfall. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and recipient of an MBE for services to the arts, Inua continues to create across disciplines, blending cultures, mythologies, and modern identities. https://www.inuaellams.comMentioned resources • The Half-God of Rainfall – play and publication info: https://wilmatheater.org/blog/dramaturgy-the-half-god-of-rainfall/  • Barbershop Chronicles – National Theatre live recording and script: https://shop.nationaltheatre.org.uk/products/barbershop-chronicles • My Name Is Why by Lemn Sissay – a memoir of identity and belonging referenced in Inua’s work.Stories That Stay is a project of Lion’s Story, a nonprofit dedicated to building racial literacy through storytelling, mindfulness, and healing. Rooted in over 35 years of research by Dr. Howard C. Stevenson at the University of Pennsylvania, our work guides individuals and institutions to reclaim their stories, reduce identity-based stress, and step into authentic inclusion—not as a checklist, but as a way of being.For a full video version of this podcast, visit our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@StoriesThatStayPodcastProduced and edited by Peterson Toscano. Mindful moment music by Dwight Dunston. Music by Epidemic Sound.Podcast site: StoriesThatStay.net Hosts: Shamm Petros and Dwight Dunston