Having escaped the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram, Nigerian-British writer Inua Ellams knows something of the migrant experience, but he says that the nightmarish journeys of refugees is still something he can hardly fathom. Nevertheless, in Inua’s Dolphins, Ellams adds insight and artfulness to the migrant experience by transforming the stories of children who have fled their homelands into poetry, imbuing the horror with a humanity that is compassionate but clear-eyed.
Can poetry make us better understand the experiences of refugees?
Video by Thomson Reuters Foundation
14 September 2015
videoDemography and migration
Tension, bureaucracy and deep humanity define life aboard a refugee rescue ship
27 minutes
videoDemography and migration
Ten million people around the world are stateless. Is citizenship a human right?
4 minutes
videoStories and literature
‘My cell is smaller than my size’ – how writing poetry saved a political prisoner
11 minutes
videoDemography and migration
The hopes and fears of the migrants selling souvenirs in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower
15 minutes
videoGender
Alifa has reached the age when girls in her village undergo a ritual cutting she fears
10 minutes
videoWar and peace
What motivated three young Britons to join the deadly fight against ISIS in Syria?
29 minutes
videoArt
Finding the spirit of Haiti through a tour of its contemporary art
20 minutes
videoDemography and migration
How the world’s harshest lockdown hit India’s millions of migrant workers
27 minutes
videoFamily life
The migrants missing in Mexico, and the mothers who won’t stop searching for them
21 minutes