Zodwa Nyoni is a Zimbabwean-born writer and director whose multidisciplinary work spans theatre, film, radio, and opera. She first rose to prominence with her debut play, Boi Boi is Dead, which won the Channel 4 Playwrights’ Scheme and was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Since, her plays have been staged across Europe, Africa, and North America.
In 2025, she premiered three projects:
Liberation: Manchester International Festival production exploring the 1945 Fifth Pan-African Congress, nominated for Best Playwright at the Black British Theatre Awards and Alfred Fagon Award finalist.
Tears Are Not Meant to Stay Inside: An opera focused on ancestral healing for Buxton International Festival.
Castlevania: Nocturne: Series 2 of Netflix’s spin off animated series set during the French Revolution.
Zodwa has directed three short films, including the award-winning short The Ancestors. It won Jurors’ Choice for Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking at Women of African Descent Film Festival (Brooklyn, NY); and Best Film at Sacramento Pan African International Film Festival.
She is a BAFTA Connect member and former Oxbelly International Fellow (Greece). Zodwa supports multidisciplinary artists and writers as a Lecturer in Scriptwriting at Manchester Metropolitan University and freelance dramaturg and script editor.
She was nominated by Manchester City of Literature. Her participation is made possible by a gift to the IWP from the estate of William B. Quarton.
