ELIAS SADAQ 

ABOUT ELIAS SADAQ

 

I was born in 1994 and am a Danish poet and playwright.

 

I gained widespread recognition with Djinn (Gyldendal, 2024), a poetry collection exploring possession, desire, and identity. In 2025, my own stage adaptation of the book premiered at Blaagaard Teater in Copenhagen. The production received the CPH Culture Awards' Special Prize and Breakthrough Theatre Production of the Year, while actor Kevan Nirwan Soliman won the Reumert Talent Award 2026 for his performance in Djinn.

 

I hold a degree in Playwriting from the Danish National School of Performing Arts. I am Writer-in-Residence at the University of Southern Denmark (2025–26) and serve as Artistic Profile at Teater Momentum (2026–27), where I am developing the new stage work Moseloven.

 

In 2026, I adapt Goethe's Faust for Betty Nansen Theatre and contribute texts to Jeanne d'Arc at Sort/Hvid.

My previous work includes writing and performing the autobiographical monologue The Young Elias' Sorrows at Folketeatret, writing and directing Foreign Legion at the Danish National School of Performing Arts, and adapting Selma Lagerlöf's The Phantom Carriage for Aarhus Theatre.

 

I have appeared at major literary festivals and cultural events including Louisiana Literature, Bogforum, LiteratureXchange, Ordkraft, Heartland, and Roskilde Festival. I have also participated in poetry festivals in Oslo and Gothenburg and have appeared in conversations with international writers such as Édouard Louis and Abdellah Taïa.

 

My work has been recognised with several honours, including the Seahorse Award from LGBT+ Denmark and a working grant from the Danish Arts Foundation. Djinn was shortlisted for the Bodil and Jørgen Munch-Christensen First Book Prize and nominated for the Prisma Literature Award.

​

Selected poems from Djinn have been translated into English and published in BEDTIME Magazine No. 5, the anthology Moist Wild Apple from Ordskælv and the American literary magazine The Common. Swedish translations have been featured in the poetry magazine Lyrikvännen, No. 2 2025.

.