Samantha Ellis

Samantha Ellis was born in London, England, to an Iraqi-Jewish family. Her father left Baghdad in 1951 for England, while her mother’s family immigrated in 1971. She is a playwright, screenwriter, and author, living in London. Aside from numerous plays, she has written How to be a Heroine (2014), a memoir of reading fictional female characters; Take Courage (2017), a biography of Anne Brontë; and Chopping Onions on my Heart (2025, US title: Always Carry Salt), a memoir about the loss of the Iraqi Jewish dialect of Arabic.