“Each and every one of us is a miracle. It’s like ‘Monster’s Ink’ we all have a door. We have to find a way to open that door. That’s what I try to do. Just behind that door is every iteration of you.”
Poet, playwright, actor, artist, Children’s Laureate Wales 2022-2023
The power of theatre
‘Why can’t I just call the character in the piece I am trying to write Connor, because it’s about me and it’s my story? LIGHT BULB!’
Belonging and a sense of place
‘How do I navigate the black branches of my family tree and history alongside the white branches?’
Past, present, future
‘As I approach the end of my twenties, I look back and reflect on so much that has already happened in my life. I’m still here, and that alone is a triumph!’
Connor Allen in conversation with Sita Brahmachari
‘Growing up on my council estate the arts felt elitist. They never felt like they represented us.’
Biography
Connor is the 2021-23 Children’s Laureate Wales. Since graduating from University of Wales Trinity Saint David as an actor, he has worked with companies such as Sherman Theatre, Tin Shed Theatre and National Theatre Wales. He became a member of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain and was also winner of the Cardiff Monologue Slam, representing Wales at the London Winners edition. As a writer he was a member of the BBC Wales Welsh Voices and The Welsh Royal Court writing groups and has written for BBC Wales, BBC Radio 4, Sherman Theatre, Literature Wales and Dirty Protest.
Connor’s work is heavily inspired by elements of his own life involving grief, love, masculinity, identity, and ethnicity. In 2021, he was shortlisted for Triforce’s UKTV Writerslam for the comedy channel Dave, won the Rising Star Wales Award and was a Jerwood Live Work Fund recipient. He is an associate artist of his hometown theatre The Riverfront in Newport. As the current Children’s Laureate Wales, he works to empower children and young people to tell their own unique stories through poetry.
