Elias Sadaq
- Denmark -
Elias Sadaq was born in Aarhus, Denmark in 1994. He is a poet and playwright. In 2019 his debut 'GADESTREGER' was published. He wrote the theatrical monologue 'The Sorrows of the Young Elias' in 2021, which he performed himself at Folketeateret in Copenhagen.
Sadaq holds a bachelor degree in dramatic writing from the Danish National School of the Performing Arts. In 2023 he wrote and directed a dystopian play about war, sex and masculinity; The Foreign Legion.
In 2024 he released 'Djinn', a poetry collection about obsession and desire. He has received 'Årets Søhest' award from LGBT+ Denmark for 'Djinn', and was a finalist for the Bodil og Jørgen Munch-Christensens Debutant Award as well as nominated for the Prisma Literature Award for that year's best Nordic book.
In 2024, Aarhus Theatre played his dramatization of 'Køresvenden' (‘The Phantom Carriage’), based on Selma Lagerlöf's gothic novel from 1912. An excerpt of the script was published in the literary magazine 'Standart', in December 2024.
In the autumn of 2025, Blaagaard Theatre in Copenhagen will show Sadaq's own dramatization of his poetry collection 'Djinn'. Sadaq works as a writer in residence at the University of Southern Denmark 2025-26.
'Stacks of bodies
naked boys and men
in my bed
in my harem
sniffing ether and zip bags
with the coldest of night frost
tomorrow it's over
I can't donate anymore blood
the air in here is sulphur and chlorine
I so want to
but how do I embrace love'
- from 'Djinn', 2024.
Born:1994, Aarhus, Denmark.
Education:
Religious Studies, University of Copenhagen, 2019-2022.
Dramatic writing, Danish National School of Performing Arts, 2022-2025.
Awards: Winner of 'Årets Søhest' fra LGBT+ Danmark for Djinn (2024). Among finalists for Bodil og Jørgen Munch-Christensens Debutantpris and nominated for Prisma Litteraturpris for best Nordic book release.
Inspiration: H.C. Andersen, William S. Burroughs, Inger Christensen, Jean Cocteau, Jean Genet, Ursula K. Le Guin, Ludvig Holberg, C.S. Lewis, Marwan, Hayao Miyazaki, Abu Nuwas,Philip Pullman, Roland Schimmelpfennig, Sofokles, Abdellah Taïa, Akira Toriyama.
Danish-Moroccan poet and playwright Elias Sadaq is the first poet in Denmark to put the double-minority of being gay and practising muslim into words. His first poems were written in a rootless period with homelessness and was published in 2019 titled 'Gadestrenger'. Sadaq debuted as a playwright in 2021 with 'The Sorrows of Young Elias', a theatre monologue, which Sadaq performed the work himself at Folketeateret in Copenhagen. Subsequently, the work was published as a book.
Sadaq writes in a laid back talking style mixing poetic language and talking style in his writing. He draws on personal experiences, and themes like homosexuality, faith, islam, spirituality, class divides and violence flood through both Sadaq's works as a playwright as well as a poet.
Danish poet F.P.Jac once said: "The closest you get to poetry is the dialogue or the line."
This makes perfect sense when reading Sadaq, or listening to one of his readings:
The playwright in Sadaq has implemented effects like dialogue, characters, scene builds into the poems, creating poetry perfectly suited for readings.
In 2024, Sadaq's award winning poetry collection 'Djinn' shone its way into the hearts of reviewers and readers alike, with poems buzzing of sex, soul-searching and rituals - as the coolness of the poet's words transformed into prose poems about life as a queer muslim.
In 'Djinn' we meet a protagonist trying to unite two facets seemingly impossible to unite - being both a practising muslim and queer. Through 71 chronologically ordered poems we follow along as the collection begins with a memory from when the narrator is 12 years old.
The title of the collection, 'Djinn', means a spirit in Islam and Arabic culture, and it is spelled using two Arabic root letters, meaning heaven and hell - these are portrayed on the cover of the collection. They exist in a sort of religious hierarchy with angles-humans-djinns, and in Sadaq's poetry collection the shapeshifting djinn figure is a floating queer icon, representing the marginalized in society.
The language in 'Djinn' is 'dirty' - says Elias Sadaq in a podcast interview with Molly Balsby, and the poems are indeed littered with swear words and explicit descriptions of sex.
Sadaq explains that he's chosen using dirty language as this is precisely where djinns thrive, and the djinns themselves hold a strong erotic energy, mirrored in this chosen language.
Apart from Danish, Sadaq's poems are infused with many Arabic and English expressions, and explanatory lines, emulating everyday speak.
"A beautiful book with grim content" - is how Sadaq has described 'Djinn' himself.
Covering themes like social control, abuse and violence, this is Sadaq's most personal work until now.
"And now what
do you blame me for my existence
call my love a sin
lock your smiles away
turn your gazes inwards
and curse me
says Ibliss
Yajuj and Majuj
Sajjal
as if we haven't always been here
at this market place
in the mosque and the hamamms
You can no longer deny us"
- from 'Djinn'
Sadaq has chosen not to call his work autobiographical, as the poems are an artistic interpretation of his lived experiences, still, the works reflect his life closely, and like the poet narrator of 'Djinn', Sadaq no longer sees his father.
One of the last poems of the book is called 'Ruqya', the name of the ritual to exorcise a djinn. In the poem it's a full moon, and the I lives through a devil exorcism, during this ordeal the I hears a voice through a loudspeaker: "Who is your God". The answer in the poem is 'majnun', meaning crazy and describing the father of the I - as in it's crazy that the love of two people is seen as forbidden.The last line devastatingly simply states: 'I still lead the prayer'.
Sadaq's familial and educational background in Arabic culture and culture studies are seen directly in his many references to i.e. Arabic myths. In "Djinn' the parents of the poet I are called Layla and Maynun, the names of a famous couple from an 600th century Arabic myth, where Qays, deeply in love with Layla who loves him too, turns mad and becomes 'Majnun' (the mad), as Layla is married off to another man.
This theme of becoming mad from love we see in 'The Sorrows of Young Elias' too.
Not only in the title's reference to Goethe's famous 'The Sorrows of Young Werther', but also in 'Djinn' - a theme within mental illness, untreated depression in Sadaq's work.
"Real Arabs don't go to therapy
they go to Staden
so I go to Staden once more
buy two joints and a bottle of gin
I don't have a depression
I have a djinn".
- From 'Djinn'.
('Staden' – is another name for Christiania, a self-governed alternative Community in Copenhagen, known for open trade of cannabis).
Through all cultural struggles, religious and spiritual imagery, through dirty language and sweetness of heart in Sadaq's works, a thread emerges and shines:
A strong undercurrent in all of Sadaq's works is a longing for a world without secrets, a world where love welcomes and is welcomed without the noise of the world. An honest world.
Sadaq says:
"I think the reason I sometimes overstep borders is because I grew up in a home with so many borders. My elder sisters called me provocative. Back then I saw it as a bad thing. I don't see it like that anymore".
"I don't want to go to the mosque
only the women are allowed
to wear gold and silk
ustad says
as he caresses my ears
my Arabic teacher
calls me his gazelle
my little cypress
and forces me to do in hiding
what I want to do in the open
dance around in dress and bare feet
on gold embroidered carpets
pour wine and mint tea
to married men
with dyed henna beards
trade for compliments and cheek kisses
fennel seeds and figs"
- from 'Djinn'.
Poetry
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GHAZAAL / GHAZAAL
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SCAFFOLDS / STILLADSER
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CITY VEST / CITY VEST
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LOVE SPELL IV / KÆRLIGHEDSBESVÆRGELSE IV
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COMPUTER BLUE / COMPUTER BLUE
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STADEN / STADEN
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HONEYMOON / HVEDEBRØDSDAGE
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MEDINA / MEDINA
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REVERB / RVMKLVNG
