Ismail, Afeif (Sudan / Australia)

Afeif Ismail was born in Elhasahisa, Sudan. A published poet and playwright, he arrived in Australia in 2003.

Afeif has published many works of poetry in Arabic: Traps and some Tracks, Bet of the Argil, A Passage to the Aroma of Invisibility, and It’s your Bird. He has published many works of poetry in English too, such as Bet of the Argil, Mum! This World Lies to Us, Orphaned Birds and The African Magician playscript.

Afeif’s plays in Arabic have been produced in cities, towns and villages across Sudan from 1985 to 2000. His play for children, The African Magician, was commissioned and produced by Barking Gecko Theatre Company in Western Australia in July 2010.

Afeif was short-listed for the inaugural Kit Denton Fellowship for Writers of Courage in 2007. He was selected to workshop this play, with co-transcreator Vivienne Glance, at Playwriting Australia’s Canberra Workshop in June/July 2008. Afeif was awarded the inaugural Australian National Playwrights’ Conference (ANPC) Bursary in 2008. In 2009 he was a recipient of an inaugural Western Australian Theatre Development Initiative for his play The Shrouds or the Dead.

The African Magician was nominated for the 44th Annual AWGIE Award best script for Children Theatre in 2011and another play, Son of the Nile, was produced by Murdoch University Theatre in Education in Western Australia in 2012.