Nick Awde Hill (born 29 December 1961) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

, singer-songwriter and

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as Art criticism, art, Literary criticism, literature, Music journalism, music, Film criticism, cinema, Theater criticism, theater, Fas ...

. He lives in London and

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

Personal life

The son of the international lawyer who formulated laws integral to global shipping of containers, he was raised in

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

and

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

before being sent to the

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

Catholic boarding school Stonyhurst College in the UK. His parents divorced when he was a teenager. After the divorce, his father moved to

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

and his mother moved to Germany. Despite the above, most of Awde's teenage home life was spent in

Soho SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

and the

West End of London The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, Central London, England, in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden and the City of Westminster. It is west of the City of London an ...

. He studied

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

and the

Hausa language Hausa (; / ; Hausa Ajami, Ajami: ) is a Chadic language spoken primarily by the Hausa people in the northern parts of Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Benin and Togo, and the southern parts of Niger, and Chad, with significant minorities in Ivory Coas ...

at London's

School of Oriental and African Studies The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury area ...

. After graduation, he worked for several years on building sites and English instruction in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Afterward, he became a

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

Plays and fiction

With Chris Bartlett he co-wrote the comedy drama '' Pete and Dud: Come Again'', a hit at the Assembly Rooms at the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of Arts festival, arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the ...

in August 2005 before transferring to London's West End at The Venue, in March 2006, then doing a 90-date tour of the UK the following year. The play examines the comic relationship that existed between comedians

Peter Cook Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English comedian, actor, satirist, playwright and screenwriter. He was the leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishmen ...

and

Dudley Moore Dudley Stuart John Moore (19 April 193527 March 2002) was an English actor, comedian, musician and composer. He first came to prominence in the UK as a leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s. He was one of the four writer-perf ...

Beyond the Fringe ''Beyond the Fringe'' was a British comedy Play (theatre), stage revue written and performed by Alan Bennett, Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller, and Dudley Moore. It debuted at the 1960 Edinburgh Festival and went on to play in London's West End the ...

; set in a chat show during the early eighties, the play tells their tale from the perspective of Dudley Moore, by then an international film star. In 2007 two other plays followed, premiering at the Edinburgh Festival. Written with Chris Bartlett, directed by David Giles and starring Jessica Martin and Jason Wood, ''Unnatural Acts'' is a comedy about two flatmates, a gay man and a straight woman, who try to have a baby together. Written by Awde and directed by Jon Bonfiglio, ''Blood Confession'' is a violent drama about an interrogation, about a child murder from 25 years ago, that goes horribly wrong. In 1993, Awde wrote, composed and produced ''

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948) is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End theatre, West End and on Broadway theatre, Broad ...

The Musical'', described as "a bizarre mix of spoof and satire" by ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Stage & Film Musicals''. A pastiche of the life of top musical composer Lloyd Webber, in loving homage to

Mel Brooks Melvin James Brooks (né Kaminsky; born June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian, filmmaker, and songwriter. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodie ...

' The Producers, it ran in a variety of fringe venues across London with several casts. Awde's 1994 follow-up ''Margaret Thatcher: The Musical'' failed to find backing. Awde's other stage works are ''Eros and the Skull'' (Bloomsbury Theatre, London, 1988) – a multi-created one-man show about the French poet Baudelaire – and ''Semtex & Lipstick'' (King's Head Theatre, London, 1992) – a drama for actor and actress about love and political torture. He also co-designed costumes for historical drama ''Tewodros'' (Arts Theatre, 1987). In 2003 he published his first novel, ''The Virgin Killers'', as part of The Public School Chronicles series. It is a thriller about murders of priests at a Catholic prep school in the wilds of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

that lead to a trail of

and

Freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

conspiracies deep within the British Establishment. He has been a theatre critic since the early 1990s, and has been writing for ''

The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. Founded in 1880, ''The Stage'' contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at thos ...

'' newspaper for most of that time. Together with Gerald Berkowitz, in 1999 he set up theatreguidelondon.co.uk. He worked on '' The Voice'' during a key period of the fight for black empowerment in the UK, frequently with immediate impact, as when he wrote a front-page headline that contributed to a riot in Brixton the following day and attempted siege of the local police station. As an illustrator and cartoonist, over the years he has worked for newspapers such as '' The Voice'' and '' The Weekly Journal'' – where he was the regular profile illustrator for several years – ''

City Limits City limits or city boundaries refer to the defined boundary (real estate), boundary or border of a city. The area within the city limit can be called the city proper. Town limit/boundary and village limit/boundary apply to towns and villages. ...

'' and ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' newspaper. His cartoons also illustrate comedian Llewella Gideon's ''The Little Big Woman Book''. He has done illustration work for Spanish educational publishers and has run a wide range of cartoon strips in specialist publications such as ''Boogie'' (music press, Spain), ''London Student'', ''Untitled'', ''The Wharf'' and ''The Stage''.

Music

Desert Hearts

Hill's rock group Desert Hearts initially operated as a rock three-piece that also played under the name of Dr Wu in 1990 before becoming a more complex four-piece in 1991 with Awde on vocals, guitar and violin, Andy Matthews on bass and vocals, Leo Katana on guitars, plus a string of drummers. Dropping the Dr Wu tag, Awde went into the studio in 1993 to produce sessions with Andy Ward – Awde provided vocals and played all other instruments – guitars, bass, keyboards and violin. Sub-titled 'Love Songs from the Underground', 1996's ''I Saw Satan on the Northern Line'' was released as a 'CD without music'. Designed in the format of a CD lyrics booklet, it contains often comic observations on modern life. The band came out of hibernation in 2010 with the release of ''Close to the Edge B/W Rocket Man/

Meryl Streep Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress. Known for her versatility and adept accent work, she has been described as "the best actress of her generation". She has received numerous accolades throughout her career ...

'', a mini album laced with

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...

keyboard arrangements.

MelloFest

November 2008 saw the first MelloFest take place at the Fiddler's Elbow in Kentish Town, London. Organised by Awde, MelloFest One featured two Mellotrons onstage along with discussions and live Mellotron-inspired music from guests, plus the official launch of Awde's book ''

''. Talking about their music and in some cases also playing it were: David Cross (

King Crimson King Crimson were an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968 by Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald (musician), Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield. Guitarist Fripp remained the only constant member throughout the ...

), Nick Magnus (

Steve Hackett Stephen Richard Hackett (born 12 February 1950) is an English guitarist who gained prominence as the lead guitarist of the progressive rock band Genesis (band), Genesis from 1971 to 1977. Hackett contributed to six Genesis studio albums, three l ...

Band), Martin Orford ( IQ), Jakko Jakszyk ( 21st Century Schizoid Band/

Tangent In geometry, the tangent line (or simply tangent) to a plane curve at a given point is, intuitively, the straight line that "just touches" the curve at that point. Leibniz defined it as the line through a pair of infinitely close points o ...

/ Level 42), Dave Cousins (

Strawbs The Strawbs are an English rock band founded in 1964 as the Strawberry Hill Boys. The band started out as a bluegrass group, but eventually moved on to other styles such as folk rock and progressive rock. They are best known for their hi ...

) & Robert Kirby (

/ Nick Drake/

Paul Weller John William Weller (born 25 May 1958), better known as Paul Weller, is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Weller achieved fame in the late 1970s as the guitarist and principal singer and songwriter of the rock band the Jam, alongside ...

Robert Webb Robert Patrick Webb (born 29 September 1972) is an English comedian, actor and writer. He rose to prominence alongside David Mitchell as part of the comedy duo Mitchell and Webb. Mitchell and Webb starred in the Channel 4 sitcom '' Peep Show' ...

(England) and Tony Clarke, producer of the Moody Blues. A more concert-based second MelloFest Two, complete with three Mellotrons onstage and a

Stylophone The Stylophone is a miniature analog synthesizer played with a stylus. Invented in 1967 by Brian Jarvis, it entered production in 1968, manufactured by Dubreq. Some three million Stylophones were sold, mostly as children's toys, but they we ...

, took place at The Luminaire in London on 2 May 2009 featuring Clarke, Orford, Webb, Maggie Alexander, Mark Rae, Andy Thompson and a virtual appearance from Jordan Rudess of

Dream Theater Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 in Boston, Massachusetts. The band comprises John Petrucci (guitar), John Myung (bass), Mike Portnoy (drums), James LaBrie (vocals) and Jordan Rudess (keyboards). Dream Theat ...

demonstrating the new Ellatron

iPod The iPod is a series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices that were designed and marketed by Apple Inc. from 2001 to 2022. The iPod Classic#1st generation, first version was released on November 10, 2001, about mon ...

iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...

Mellotron app. MelloFest Three is the Nick Awde & Desert Hearts EP ''Close to the Edge'', released in early 2010. MelloFest Four will be the band's follow-up album ''MelloRetro''. MelloFest Six is 2011's ''

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. It recounts the ...

Unplugged'' at the Union Chapel, north London, a music biz update of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

' classic ''

'' arranged by Awde, written by Chris Bartlett and starring

Noddy Holder Neville John "Noddy" Holder (born 15 June 1946) is an English musician, songwriter and actor. He was the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the English rock band Slade, one of the UK's most successful acts of the 1970s. Known for his disti ...

Slade Slade are a rock band formed in Wolverhampton, England in 1966. They rose to prominence during the glam rock era in the early 1970s, achieving 17 consecutive top 20 hits and six number ones on the UK Singles Chart. The '' British Hit Singl ...

. Musicians appearing in the show at the Union Chapel, north London, are

, Simon Scardanelli, Andy Thompson, Knox of

The Vibrators The Vibrators were a British punk rock band whose greatest success was in 1977–1978 with the albums ''Pure Mania'' and ''V2 (album), V2''. Their first Epic Records single "Baby Baby (The Vibrators song), Baby Baby" is considered a punk cla ...

, Marc Atkinson, Grace Solero and member of parliament and deputy transport minister

Norman Baker Norman John Baker (born 26 July 1957) is a Liberal Democrats (UK), Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom who was the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Lewes (UK Parliament constituency), Lewes in ...

. The stage director is Saul Reichlin.

Academic work

As Nicholas Awde, Hill has written or edited books on non-European languages and cultures, including a '' Chechen Phrasebook'', a ''Georgian Phrasebook'', ''Women in Islam: An Anthology from the

Qur'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...

and

Hadiths Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...

'', ''An Illustrated History of Islam'' and an ''Arabic Dictionary''. He has written three other dictionaries for Swahili,

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...

and Hausa, as well as 15-plus dictionary-phrasebooks. He has commissioned many authors, particularly from the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

, editing and designing their books for other publishers. He is also a long-standing consultant on the Caucasus, and, with Fred James Hill, runs the publishing companies Bennett & Bloom (academic) and Desert Hearts (general arts).

Dramatic works

* ''Migraaaants!'', translation from French of Matei Visniec's play (2016) * ''Jason (...and the Fleeced)'' (2016) * ''Khojaly: The Play'' (2016) * ''The Europeans (Antwerp)'' (2015) * Translator's Introduction (in Italian) in ''La Bella Tarantola nel grano e altre storie di Puglia'' (2015) * ''Hecuba'', translation from French of Matei Visniec's play (2015) * ''The Europeans (Bruges)'' (2014) * ''Jamie and the Mountain Monsters'', featuring Matt Panesh aka Monkey Poet (2014) * Translations from Romanian of ''Occidental Express'', ''Spider'' and ''Decomposed Theatre'', in Matei Visniec: '' How to Explain the History of Communism to Mental Patients and Other Plays'' (2014) * ''HEADS UP! (The Prisoner of Terminal 4, or: Hague’s Miranda Samba) – A Flash Mob Satire'' (2013) * ''Jimmy Savile: The Punch and Judy Show'' (2013) * ''Noddy Holder's A Christmas Carol Unplugged'' (producer, director & musical arranger, 2011) * ''Blood Confession'' (2007) * ''Unnatural Acts'' (2007), with Chris Bartlett * ''Pete and Dud: Come Again'' (2005), with Chris Bartlett * ''Andrew Lloyd Webber: The Musical'' (1994) * ''Semtex & Lipstick'' (1993) * ''Eros & the Skull'' (1988), with Peter Stevenson & John FitZgeRald * Design: ''Tewodros'' (1987)

Discography

* ''Paradox of Choice'', Mindgames – vocal session (2015) * ''Mellotronic Belgian Blues'' (as Nick Awde, 2015) * ''Close to the Edge B/W Rocket Man/Meryl Streep'' (as Nick Awde & Desert Hearts, 2010) * ''Always Tomorrow'', The Reform Club with

(2013) – sessions,

* ''Comandamenti di Auriti'', Heather Beaumont,

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

(2013) – voices

Select bibliography

2010 * ''Georgia: A Short History'', edited with Fred James Hill (forthcoming) * ''One-Person Show'' (forthcoming) * ''Singer-Songwriters Vol. 1'' (forthcoming) * ''Zazaki (Dimli) Phrasebook'' (forthcoming) * ''Kurdish (Kurmanji) Phrasebook'' (forthcoming) * ''The Armenians: People, Culture & History'', edited with Fred James Hill (forthcoming) 2009 * ''The Azerbaijanis: People, Culture & History'', edited with Fred James Hill * '' Kurdish (

Sorani Central Kurdish, also known as Sorani Kurdish, is a Kurdish dialect or a language spoken in Iraq, mainly in Iraqi Kurdistan, as well as the provinces of Kurdistan, Kermanshah, and West Azerbaijan in western Iran. Central Kurdish is one of the ...

) Phrasebook'' * '' Tatar Phrasebook'' 2008 * ''

: The Machine and the Musicians that Revolutionised Rock'' 2007 * ''Modern Aramaic Dictionary & Phrasebook (Assyrian/Syriac: Swadaya and Turoyo)'', with Nineb Limassu and Nicholas Al-Jeloo 2006 * ''Pete and Dud: Come Again'', with Chris Bartlett * ''Western Armenian Dictionary & Phrasebook'', with Vazken-Khatchig Davidian * ''Farsi Dictionary & Phrasebook'', with Camilla Shahribaf 2005 * ''Women in Islam: An Anthology from the Qur'an & Hadiths'' irst edition 1985* ''Turkmen Dictionary & Phrasebook'', with William Dirks & Amandurdy Amadurdyev 2004 * ''Serbian Dictionary & Phrasebook'', with Duska Radosavljevic 2003 * ''The Virgin Killers'' * ''History of the Islamic World (Illustrated)'', with Fred James Hill * ''Eastern Armenian Dictionary & Phrasebook'', with Peter Maghdashyan * ''Pashto Dictionary & Phrasebook'', with Asmatullah Sarwan * ''Dari Dictionary & Phrasebook'' * ''Urdu Dictionary & Phrasebook'' 2002 * ''London: An Illustrated History'', with Robert Chester * ''Uzbek Dictionary & Phrasebook'', with William Dirks & Umida Hikmatullaeva * ''Swahili Dictionary & Phrasebook'' 2001 * ''Armenian First Names'', with Emanuela Losi 2000 * ''Andrew Lloyd Webber: The Musical'' * ''Swahili Dictionary'' 1999 * ''The Little Big Woman Book'', by Llewella Gideon, illustrated by Nick Awde * ''Somali Dictionary & Phrasebook'' * ''Azerbaijani Dictionary & Phrasebook'', with Famil Ismailov * ''Igbo Dictionary & Phrasebook'', with Onyekachi Wambu * ''Treasury of Indian Love: Poems & Proverbs'', with Christopher Shackle 1997 * ''Armenian Perspectives'' (edited) * ''Treasury of African Love: Poems & Proverbs'' * ''Georgian Dictionary & Phrasebook'', with Thea Khitarishvili * ''The Mandeer Ayurvedic Cookbook'', by Ramesh Patel, illustrated by Nick Awde 1996 * ''I Saw Satan on the Northern Line: Love Songs from the Underground'' * ''Chechen Dictionary and Phrasebook'', with Muhammad Galaev * ''Serbo-Croatian Dictionary'' * ''Hausa Dictionary'' * ''Qasida Poetry in Islamic Asia and Africa (Studies in Arabic literature): Vols. 1 & 2'', edited by Stefan Sperl & Christopher Shackle, consultant editor Nicholas Awde 1992 * ''Playground: Vols. 1, 2 & 3'', with Imad Alassir 1987 * ''21st Century Hausa'' * ''Hausa Reader'' * ''The Arabic Alphabet. How to Read & Write It'' (1987), with Putros Samano 1985 * ''Women in Islam: An Anthology from the Qur'an & Hadiths'' ew edition 2005* ''Bibliography of Caucasian Linguistics'' 1982 * ''Pickled Priests'', illustrated by Nick Awde

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Awde, Nick 1961 births Living people British male singer-songwriters British theatre critics British expatriates in Nigeria British expatriates in Sudan British expatriates in Kenya Alumni of SOAS University of London Writers from London Gargleblast Records artists Awde