Esiaba Irobi was born in the Republic of Biafra and has lived in exile in Nigeria, Britain and the USA . He studied at the universities of Nigeria, Sheffield, Leeds and holds a B.A. in English/Drama, M.A. Comparative Literature, M.A. Film/Theatre, and a Ph.D. in Theatre Studies. His play, Cemetery Road, won the prestigious World Drama Trust Award for playwriting in 1992. His other published plays include Hangmen Also Die, The Colour of Rusting Gold, Nwokedi, Why the Vultures Head is Naked, What Song do Mosquitoes Sing? and the recently finished Foreplay  commissioned by the  Royal Court Theatre in London. He has directed numerous plays and productions in Ireland, Hungary, USA, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, England, Nigeria, Portugal and Scotland. He is also one of the most sought after workshop leaders in the world today.  His forthcoming books include Theorizing the Cinema of Africa and African Diaspora: Ontology, Teleology, Semiology and  Narratology (Routledge, London, 2005) and Before They Danced in Chains: Performance Theories of Africa and the African Diaspora ( Harvard University Press, 2006) and a new adaptation of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest titled `The Shipwreck’ commissioned by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Theatre, USA. He has just completed a very exciting book of poetry: Why I Don’t Like Philip Larkin published by Milton and London: Nsibidi Africana Publishers,  in Boston, Massachusetts , USA, and  will be running his popular Acting for the International Stage Workshops for Professional Actors in London, Paris, Budapest, Barbados  and Ottawa  later on in the year.