# Allie Esiri

Allie Esiri (born 26 January 1967), formerly Allie Byrne, is a British writer, poetry curator and producer who is a former stage, film, and television actress.
Esiri produces and curates poetry apps, books and yearly shows at the National Theatre and major literary festivals. Esiri began with devising two of the first poetry apps: The Love Book, an interactive literary app on iOS with readers including Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Hiddleston and Emma Watson and iF Poems, an educational poetry app.
The first of her bestselling series of poetry anthologies published by Pan Macmillan is A Poem for Every Night of the Year which won the IBW Book award 2017. It has sold a remarkable 150,000 hardbacks in the UK alone. A collection of many of the greatest poems ever written, each poem has a daily introduction, written by Esiri. This series of anthologies have been picked as best books of the year in publications including The Times, Observer, Guardian and New Statesman.
Esiri's follow-up anthology, A Poem for Every Day of the Year was published in 2017 in hardback and an audiobook with the daily poems read by Helena Bonham Carter and Simon Russell Beale. The book and audiobook are recommended widely including by National Poetry Day and The Guardian who selected it as one of the ten best ever poetry books, The Times who chose the audiobook as one of their best audiobooks of the year and by the head of the National Trust who chose it as the book she would take to her Desert Island on BBC Radio 4.
Shakespeare for Every Day of the Year was published in hardback, e-book and audiobook – with a stellar cast including Paapa Essiedu, Damian Lewis, Helen McCrory and Simon Russell Beale – by Pan Macmillan in the UK in 2019, Penguin in the USA in 2020 and Neri Pozza in Italy in 2020. Accolades include being The Times best audiobook: "Abandon Tweet of the Day for this excellently narrated daily dose celebrating the Bard. Beginning with the prologue to Romeo and Juliet (“Two noble households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona . . .”) and ending with Prospero declaring, “Now my charms are all overthrown,” it will inspire you to revisit Shakespeare’s writing" ― The Times - Best audio books of 2019; and The Observer best books of the year: "Shakespeare for Every Day of the Year is persuasively pulled off in this daily dose of soliloquies, sonnets and snippets from plays. The book is nicely edited by Allie Esiri (like its predecessors A Poem for Every Night of the Year and A Poem for Every Day of the Year) and what distinguishes it are its fascinating, scholarly prefaces . A lucky dip for all ages and a handsome Christmas diversion." ― Observer - Best books of the year round-up.
A Poet for Every Day of the Year was published in hardback, e-book and audiobook by Pan Macmillan UK in September 2021. "If you feel as though your life is lacking a bit of poetry, this is an excellent place to start. ― Best Poetry Books of the Year, The Times. A Poet for Every Day of the Year does exactly what it says on the tin, presenting a poet for you to meet and take your time with every day; to savour, enjoy, read, re-read and return to, knowing that there’ll be another one along tomorrow. -- Ian McMillan, Daily Mail
A Nursery Rhyme for Every Night of the Year was published by Macmillan Children's Books in March 2023. Allie Esiri’s A Nursery Rhyme for Every Day of the Year is a brilliant idea and a splendid collection to read, recite or sing. Old and new rhymes, themed by month and beautifully illustrated by Emily Faccini, mean that any child of six and under will love it. -- Amanda Craig ― The New Statesman. Poetry pro Allie Esiri's collection of 366 children's nursery rhymes, including new ones and jolly illustrations by Emily Faccini, is perfect bedtime reading - for kids and adults. ― You Magazine .This lovely collection of 365 rhymes, charms and jokes is a gift to parents; a happy reminder of a more innocent age. -- Bel Mooney ― Daily Mail
The hardback and e-book of Esiri's uplifting poetry collection, 365 Poems for Life was published by Bluebird Books, also Pan Macmillan, on 5 October 2023.

## Acting career

Esiri read Modern and Medieval Languages at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where she appeared in numerous productions, including The Winter's Tale directed by Tim Supple and an acclaimed production of Cyrano de Bergerac, directed by Sam Mendes, starring Tom Hollander and which also featured future deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. Byrne's first major television role was in the Agatha Christie's Poirot adaptation of The Mysterious Affair at Styles in 1990. In 1992 she played Olivia in an English Shakespeare Company production of Twelfth Night directed by Michael Pennington and Macbeth directed by Michael Bogdanov.
In 1995, she played Lady Kiely in the television programme Sharpe's Battle, alongside Sean Bean and Hugh Fraser, with whom she had previously appeared in the Agatha Christie's Poirot adaptation of The Mysterious Affair at Styles. She played one of the lead roles in the ITV series Call Red (1996), a prime time seven-part series with an audience of 10 million weekly viewers. She also appeared in the Merchant Ivory Productions film, Howards End and the Kenneth Branagh film In the Bleak Midwinter. In 1999 she played environmental activist Teri Riley opposite Trevor Eve in the C5 film Doomwatch: Winter Angel. Other acting credits include the hit sitcoms Men Behaving Badly and Goodnight Sweetheart, the TV dramas A Touch of Frost, Minder and Van der Valk, Dr Faustus at Greenwich Theatre and David Hare's The Secret Rapture.

## Literary career and live shows

Byrne ceased acting in 1999 to write and create poetry projects. She wrote freelance articles for publications such as American Vogue, The New York Times, and London's Evening Standard ES magazine, and now works in the world of poetry and technology. Under her married name of Allie Esiri she creates poetry anthologies, apps and shows.
Esiri creates regular poetry shows with readers including Damian Lewis, Helen McCrory, Samuel West, Dominic West, Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Hiddleston,Tobias Menzies, Dominic West, Emma Corrin, Asa Butterfield, Stephen Fry, David Harewood, Giles Terera, Tamsin Greig and Sophie Turner. "A Poem for Every Night of the Year" was launched at the National Theatre (the first of a series of yearly events) on the Olivier stage on 25 November 2016. It was reviewed in The Telegraph. Esiri curated similar events at the Hay Festival, Cheltenham Literature Festival, Edinburgh Festival, Oxford Literary Festival and Bath Festivals. A Poem for Every Day of the Year show at the National Theatre took place on 10 November 2017 - joining Esiri on stage were actors Adjoa Andoh, Simon Russell Beale, Joanna Lumley, Stephen Mangan, Helen McCrory and Samuel West.
Esiri curated and hosted an event, Women Poets Through the Ages in November 2018 firstly at the National Theatre with Joanna Lumley, Helen McCrory, Kate Fleetwood, Sheila Atim and Indira Varma; then at the Bridge theatre in London in April 2019 with Helena Bonham Carter, Helen McCrory and Pippa Bennett-Warner.
Esiri's Shakespeare for Every Day of the Year live shows at the National Theatre and Hay Festival have featured Helena Bonham Carter, Emma Corrin, Diana Quick, Paapa Essiedu, Christopher Eccleston, Simon Russell Beale Samuel West and Olivia Williams and there is a film, available on YouTube recorded during the lockdown for the Hay Festival starring Helena Bonham Carter and Dominic West, introduced by Esiri. A co-production with Regents Park Open Air Theatre and Allie Esiri of Shakespeare for Every Day of the Year – Live took place in July 2024 at the Open Air theatre, with a cast including Damian Lewis, Luke Thompson, Olivia Williams, Susan Wokoma and Toheeb Jimoh.
A Poet for Every Day of the Year 's launch show at the National Theatre was dedicated to long-term collaborator Helen McCrory and was curated by Esiri and co-hosted with Damian Lewis. Friends of Helen McCrory joined Esiri and Lewis for the hour's show on the Lyttleton stage: Simon Russell Beale, Fay Ripley, Lesley Sharp and Danny Sapani. It was reviewed in The Times and Sunday Times. It is available to stream free on National Theatre YouTube.
Esiri's anthology, A Nursery Rhyme for Every Night of the Year, was published in March 2023. Poetry for Every Day show at the National Theatre, also available free on National Theatre YouTube channel, featured several readings from the book from Tom Hiddleston, Asa Butterfield, Kate Fleetwood, Sope Dirisu and Daria Plahity. The event was in aid of the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian appeal. A Nursery Rhyme for Every Night of the Year event was at the Hay Festival in May 2023 with Esiri, Helena Bonham Carter, Tony Robinson, Michael Rosen, Julia Donaldson, Malcolm Donaldson, Olivia Williams, Brian Bilston, JB Gill and Samuel West.
365 Poems for Life was published on National Poetry Day 2023. There is a gala poetry event based on this collection at Hay Festival on May 25th 2025.
A Poem for Every Christmas Day was published 7 November 2024. Bill Nighy read a poem from the collection, alongside Esiri's interview, on Radio 4's The Today programme for the book's launch.
A Poem for Every Autumn Day, A Poem for Every Winter Day, A Poem for Every Spring Day and A Poem for Every Summer Day are all available in paperback.
In 2011, Esiri co-created the successful poetry app, "iF Poems" and its accompanying book "iF, A Treasury of Poems for Almost Every Possibility". Esiri conceived "iF Poems" as an educational poetry app for children of any age. It was chosen to be in The Sunday Times Best Apps of the year list and in The Spectator's top ten ibooks of the year. No longer available, poems were read on the app by Esiri's long term collaborators Helena Bonham Carter, Bill Nighy, Harry Enfield, and Tom Hiddleston.
Esiri then created "The Love Book App" recommended by Apple and available on iOS platforms. It has 300 poems, quotes, letters and short stories on the theme of love, read by Helena Bonham Carter, Emma Watson, Damian Lewis, Tom Hiddleston, Helen McCrory and Gina Bellman. The app is illustrated by Kate Moross. The accompanying book was published by Square Peg, an imprint of Random House on 6 February 2014.
Esiri sat on the advisory board of The Times/The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival 2014–2106, currently sits on the Children's Poetry Summit and is an advisor to the organisation National Poetry Day. She chaired the literary themed Secret Winter Gala for the charity Save the Children from 2013 to 2015 and chaired the judging panel for the CLPE poetry prize in 2021.

## Selected television credits

* Doomwatch: Winter Angel (1999) - as Teri Riley
* The Bill - as D.S. Hunt (1998)
* Goodnight Sweetheart 1 episode - as Kate (1997)
* Call Red - many episodes, as Alyson Butler (1996)
* Men Behaving Badly 1 episode - as Jill (1995)
* Sharpe's Battle - as Lady Kiely (1995)
* A Touch of Frost - as Ruth Ormrod (1995)
So Haunt Me as Vic Lewis (1993)
* Van der Valk, The Ties That Bind - as Petra van Leurink (1992)
* Minder The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Entrepreneur and Three Cons Make A Mountain - as Lucy (1991)
* Agatha Christie's Poirot - The Mysterious Affair at Styles - Cynthia Murdoch (1990)