NTOMBIZODWA NYONI

WRITER

 

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BIO

Zodwa Nyoni is a Zimbabwean-born playwright, librettist, screenwriter, director and lecturer.

Her debut play, BOI BOI IS DEAD won the Channel 4 Playwrights’ Scheme in 2014. It was also a finalist for the international Susan Smith Blackburn Prize 2014/15. Since, her plays have been produced in the UK, France, Germany, USA, Zimbabwe and South Africa.  

 In 2025, she premiered LIBERATION at Manchester International Festival with Royal Exchange. It was shortlisted for the Alfred Fagon Award and nominated for Best Playwright at the Black British Theatre Awards.  Her credits also include: TEARS ARE NOT MEANT TO STAY AT HOME, an opera for Buxton International Festival.   Two radio plays, LOVE AGAIN (BBC Radio 3) and A KHOISAN WOMAN (Drama on 3); and three short films: MAHOGANY, NOTES ON BEING A LADY and THE ANCESTORS (BBC Films and BFI Network).  The latter 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 was an international fellow on Oxbelly’s inaugural Episodic Program in Greece. She is a BAFTA Connect member and on the writing team on two series of Netflix’s spin-off series, CASTLEVANIA: NOCTURNE.

Zodwa supports multidisciplinary artists and writers. She has led various writing workshops and development programmes including, RE:ASSEMBLE, a professional development programme for dramaturgs by Paines Plough in association with 45 North. She is currently a Lecturer in Scriptwriting, a freelance dramaturg and Script Editor. 

LIBERATION | Royal Exchange Theatre & Manchester International Festival: ★★★★ The Guardian ★★★★ The Times ★★★★ WhatsOnStage ★★★★ The Stage ★★★★★ Upstaged Manchester ★★★★★ Voice Magazine

CV

PRODUCTION

COMPANY

ROLE

I AM GOD

Bristol Old Vic

Playwright

Liberation (2025)

Royal Exchange

Playwright

The Darkest Part of the Night (2022)

Kiln Theatre

Playwright

The Happiness Project: Part 1 (2020)

Pilot Theatre

Playwright

Phone Home (2016)

Upstart Theatre (London), Pathos Theatre (Munich) & Highway Productions

Playwright

Boi Boi is Dead (2015)

Tiata Fahodzi & Leeds Playhouse

Playwright

Nine Lives (2014)

Leeds Playhouse, Oran Mor & Market Theatre

Playwright

PRODUCTION

COMPANY

ROLE

We Need New Stories (2023)

Fifth Word Theatre

Writer

Of Home and Each Other (2018)

Site-specific and immersive audio experience

Writer

A Khoisan Woman (2019)

BBC Radio 3

Writer

Love Again: Sonnets in the City (2016)

BBC Radio 3

Writer

PRODUCTION

COMPANY

ROLE

Castlevania: Nocturne Series 1 & 2

Netflix

Episodic Writer

PRODUCTION

COMPANY

ROLE

The Ancestors

Redbag Pictures, BBC Films & BFI Network

Writer & Director

Notes On Being A Lady (2019)

New Creatives, Arts Council England and BBC Arts

Director

Mahogany (2018)

Triple Dot Makers

Writer & Director

PRODUCTION

COMPANY

ROLE

Ẹ̀mí

Film 4

Script Editor

Hold Me

BFI & Redbag Pictures

Writer