Zodwa Nyoni is a Zimbabwean-born writer/director working in theatre, TV, film, radio and opera.
Her work explores black diasporic identities, folklore, spirituality, ritual, race, class, politics, migration and liminality.
She started writing in poetry in 2005 with Leeds Young Authors. She’s performed her poetry national and internationally at venues and events such as: British Museum, Venezuelan Embassy, Latitude Festival, eKhaya Multi Arts Centre (Durban), National Gallery Bulawayo (Zimbabwe), Nuyorican Poets Café (New York, USA) and Historic Hampton House (Miami, USA).
In 2014, she won the Channel 4 Playwright's Scheme with her first full length play, BOI BOI IS DEAD (Leeds Playhouse & Tiata Fahodzi). It was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize 2014/15. Since, her plays have been produced across Europe, Africa and USA. Her most recent play, THE DARKEST PART OF THE NIGHT (Kiln Theatre) was shortlisted for the Alfred Fagon Award and George Devine Award 2021. It was chosen as one of The Independent's top stage shows of 2022.
Her radio credits include : LOVE AGAIN (BBC Radio 3), A KHOISAN WOMAN (Drama on 3) and CONVERSATIONS ON A BENCH: LEEDS (BBC Radio 4).
Zodwa has made three short films: MAHOGANY (National Trust and 24 Design Ltd), NOTES ON BEING A LADY (New Creatives / BBC Arts) and THE ANCESTORS (BBC Films/BFI Film Hub North). She is a writer on Netflix's spin-off series CASTLEVANIA:NOCTURE.
As a dramaturg, Zodwa supports multidisciplinary performance artists and writers. She is an associate dramaturg at two theatres : Tiata Fahodzi, the UK's leading British African heritage contemporary theatre company; and Fifth Word, an award-winning theatre company based in the East Midlands. She’s previously co-curated RE:ASSEMBLE, a new dramaturgy professional development programme by Paines Plough in association with 45 North.
Zodwa’s plays are published by Bloomsbury. She has contributed writing to :
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Public Art Encounters: Art, Space and Identity (Routledge ,2018)
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Telling Our Stories of Home: International Performance Pieces By and About Women (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022)
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Black British Queer Plays and Practitioners: An Anthology of Afriquia Theatre (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022).
Zodwa graduated from the University of Leeds with an MA in Writing for Performance and Publication. She guest lectured in performance poetry, theatre making and playwriting at the University of Warwick,Leeds Beckett University and University of Manchester. She is currently a Lecturer in Scriptwriting at Manchester Metropolitan University and on the Advisory Council for the Caine Prize of African Writing.
Representation : The Agency, London