Author denied UK visa unable to attend premiere of play based on his memoir

The Guardian

15-05-2025

The author of an award-winning memoir about his life as a refugee has been refused a UK visa to attend a premiere of its adaptation for the London stage by one of Britain's most celebrated playwrights.
Ibrahima Balde, who lives in Spain, was told the UK government was not satisfied he would return home after the performance of Little Brother which begins its run at Jermyn Street Theatre next week.
Balde's memoir, Little Brother: an Odyssey to Europe, chronicles his search along the migrant routes of the Sahara for his younger sibling, Alhassane, who ran away from school in Guinea, west Africa, to make money for the family.
The book's critical acclaim led to Balde meeting the late Pope Francis and its adaptation for the stage by Timberlake Wertenbaker, an Olivier award winner described in The Washington Post as 'the doyenne of political theatre of the 1980s and 1990s'.
Balde's visa application to attend the premiere on 20 May during a four-day visit to London had been supported by the Jermyn Street theatre. He was due to stay with Wertenbaker during his time in London.
In its refusal letter, dated 13 May, to Balde, the Home Office said it was 'not satisfied that you have demonstrated your circumstances are as declared or are as such that you intend to leave the UK at the end of your visit.'
It added: 'Any future UK visa applications you make will be considered on their individual merits, however you are likely to be refused unless the circumstances of your application change. In relation to this decision, there is no right of appeal or right to administrative review.'
In a statement, Jermyn Street theatre called for the Home Office to reconsider the decision and suggested it was a symptom of a hardening of the government's approach to migration in response to the political challenge of Nigel Farage's Reform party.
Keir Starmer has been accused in recent days of echoing the far right after the prime minister made a speech in which he warned of the risk of Britain becoming an 'island of strangers'.
The theatre said: 'We're extremely disappointed that the UK Home Office has denied renowned writer Ibrahima Balde a visa to visit the UK to attend the upcoming performances at Jermyn Street theatre of Little Brother, a play adapted from his PEN Award-winning memoir of the same name.
'Little Brother tells Ibrahima's story of leaving his home in Guinea to find his younger brother who is trying to make his way to Europe.
'His book has become a source of inspiration across the world and led to him meeting with Pope Francis.
'It has been met with critical acclaim, translated into 13 languages, and read by countless people around the globe who have been drawn to a deeply personal narrative that gives voice to the often-nameless people behind the headlines about migration.'
The theatre added: 'The refusal of a visa to a writer of such magnitude denies UK audiences an important cultural connection, and it is a decision which cannot be removed from the current political conversations around migration and the political rhetoric that surround them.
'Jermyn Street theatre urges the Home Office to reconsider this decision and allow him entry into the country to attend the premiere of a play based upon his story.'
Wertenbaker, whose best-known work, Our Country's Good, received six Tony nominations for its 1991 production, said: 'It breaks my heart that the Home Office does not trust the intentions of such a special man who already has gone through so much. The decision illustrates why staging this play is important.
'We must never forget that the stories of migrants are human stories and to deny a writer the opportunity to participate in the staging of his own work runs the risk of losing sight of that.'
Balde, who co-authored his memoir with the Spanish poet, Amets Arzallus Antia, said: 'I am disappointed by the decision of the Home Office which will prevent me travelling to London to see my own story on stage in London.
'This is my story but also the story of many others who have undertaken the same journey. I was to be in London for four days before returning to my home in Madrid. I hope a way can be found for me to attend the play in London.
'The world is a very big place for many people, with so much space for the want and need to explore. But for some people, like me, the world is a small place, the rest of which I am not allowed to see.'
The book's publishers in the UK, Scribe Publications, said it was 'deeply concerned that such a significant writer has been denied a visa to the UK at the moment where his story – one shared by many migrants entering Europe – is due to be introduced to a new audience.'
The Home Office has been approached for comment.