Afeif Ismail

Afeif Ismail is an award-winning multilingual Sudanese-Australian writer. He is an internationally published poet and playwright, with extracts from his work translated into English, German, Spanish and Swedish. His work in Australia has been recognized nationally through winning awards and nominations.

In Australia, Afeif’s poetry and short stories have appeared in multiple journals and anthologies, while his plays have been produced at The Blue Room Theatre, World Fringe Festival WA, Barking Gecko Theatre amongst others. His collections of essays, shorts stories and poetry in Arabic has had international critical acclaim.

EDUCATION

- Bachelor of Arts, in Theatre and Drama at Murdoch University, Western Australia.

PRODUCTIONS

2016 - Circles of Return produced by Ebony Theatre, Fringe World Festival, WA.

2014 – 3 Seeds directed by Jeremy Rice, produced by Always Working Artist, Blue Room Theatre.

2012 - Son of the Nile (TYA) directed by David Moody and Tim Brain, Nexus Theatre, Murdoch University.

2010 - The African Magician (TYA), directed by Jeremy Rice, produced Barking Gecko Theatre Company

Afeif’s plays have been produced in many cities, towns and villages in Sudan including Khartoum, from 1986 to 2000. These have included The Merchant and The Centre of the Circle.

PUBLICATIONS

Children playscripts co-transcreated from Arabic by Vivienne Glance and Afeif Ismail: The African Magician, Son of the Nile, 3 Seeds, short plays.

Poetry books co-transcreated by Vivienne Glance and Afeif Ismail: Orphaned Birds, Mum this World Lies to Us. Bet of the Argil, translated by Dr. Aida Seif El-Dawla.

Published work in Arabic:

Poetry:

Traps and some Tracks (2001), Bet of the Argil (2003), A Passage to the Aroma of Invisibility (2006), It’s your Bird (2007) and Afeif Ismail The Complete Poetry Collection (2012), There! Where the Storm Sleeps without Cover (2021).

As the Light Sleeps in Distance, Hybrid Genre Tales (2013), Conversation from Beyond the Ocean (2013) and Perfume Traces of Absences (2018).

INVITED PARTICIPANT

2021 Panellist at ASSITEJ World Congress- Japan.

2018 Speaker, ASSITJE's 5th International Theatre for Young Audiences forum Critics and Researchers Forum in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

2017 - Australian Theatre Forum, Adelaide (independent delegate). Afeif joined other five Australian writers to be part of the Keynote Project ‘Performance Encyclopaedia’ run by Canadian performance company, ‘Public Recording’.

2015 Playwriting Australia’s Industry Forum, Adelaide.


2015 Australian Theatre Forum, Sydney.

2014 - The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, to be one of six International Playwriting Observers at New Visions/New Voices Festival of Works in Progress for Young Audiences.

2012, co-presented a paper (with Jeremy Rice) on cross-cultural collaboration at the International Forum on TYA, New York University. The Forum is titled “Which Way TYA? Future Directions in Theatre for Young Audiences”.

AWARDS/NOMINATIONS

2019 Afeif and Vivienne Glance are the winner of the ASSITEJ International Call for Ideas grant to creator three educational videos about the transcreation process.

2019- Son of the Nile, children play , was shortlisted for The ASSITEJ African Playwriting Competition in South Africa.

2015 - Naji Naaman's Literary Prize, Lebanon.

2011 – The African Magician nominated Australian Writers Guild award for best children’s play.

2009 - recipient inaugural WA Theatre Development Initiative for The Shrouds or the Dead.

2008 – awarded inaugural Australian National Playwrights’ Conference (ANPC) Bursary.

2007 - nominated for the Kit Denton award for Courage in Writing.

READINGS/WORKSHOPS

2018 excerpt Son of the Nile at the ASSITJE's 5th International Theatre for Young Audiences forum Critics and Researchers Forum in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

2013, excerpt Unsuitable Hats Write Local Play Global (WLPG) Shorts: Unexpected Connections, One Theatre World Conference, Cleveland Ohio, USA.

2013 - Eureka (monologue) WLPG Sparks - Catalysts for Discovery at ASSITEJ International Meeting for the International Theatre Festival SCHÄXPIR, Linz, Austria.

2008 - The Son of the Sun (children’s play) workshopped at Playwriting Australia’s Canberra Workshop.

Afeif’s plays (in Arabic) have been produced in many cities, towns and villages in Sudan including Khartoum, from 1986 to 2000. These have included: The Merchant, and The Centre of the Circle.

Afeif Ismail and Vivienne Glance are long time collaborators in their specialised practice of Co – Transcreation – a process of working that brings translation of texts from one language to another into a new methodology, working with culture and context as part of shared language creation.