At around the age of 9 Yomi found himself as the unintentional storyteller. Writing stories without actually knowing the potential of the pen.

Long Bio 

Yomi Ṣode is an award-winning Nigerian British writer and recipient of the 2019 Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellowship. He was shortlisted for The Brunel International African Poetry Prize 2021. Born in Oyo State Nigeria, Yomi grew up around words and music and has been performing for the past 17 years.

Highlights include opening for Saul Williams and The Last Poets, with appearances at Wireless Festival, Latitude, Lovebox, New York Public Library, Sadler’s Wells Theatre, as well as working with Channel 4, BBC Radio 1xtra, Southbank Centre, Merky Books, The National Gallery, and the Louvre. He is a trustee for Raw Material, has had work commissioned by The Mayor’s Office, V&A, UN Humanitarian Summit, UCL, The Foundling Museum, BBC World Service/ BBC Africa and was once long-listed as one of MTV’s Brand New Artists.

Yomi’s acclaimed one-man show COAT toured nationally to sold-out audiences, including at Africa Writes Festival, Brighton Festival, Roundhouse Camden and the Battersea Arts Centre. In 2020 his libretto Remnants, written in collaboration with award-winning composer James B. Wilson was performed with Chineke! Orchestra premiered on BBC Radio 3.

In 2021, his play, and breathe… starring BAFTA award winning, David Jonsson, premiered at the Almeida Theatre to sold-out audiences, rave reviews and garnered four Black British Theatre Awards. Yomi is a Complete Works alumnus and a member of Malika’s Poetry Kitchen. He is the founder of BoxedIn, First Five, The Daddy Diaries, and mentorship programme, 12 in 12. 

Yomi has a background in youth and community work and has delivered work in line PSHE/Citizenship curriculums re knife crime, drug awareness and wellness. This mix of youth and creative work has led to him to work with various organisations for more than 20 years. Recently Yomi partnered with Hackney Empire for a special edition of his event, First Five that saw him interview Rapman to an audience of 1200 young people. 

Yomi’s work has been published in numerous poetry magazines, and has had essays published in anthologies SAFE: 20 WAYS TO BE A BLACK MAN IN BRITAIN, and MANDEM.  

His debut collection ‘Manorism’, published by Penguin in October 2022 was shortlisted for the T S Eliot Prize 2022, the Rathbones Folio Prize 2023 and was adapted for stage at the Southbank Centre. Additionally, Manorism has been added to the MA Black British Literature syllabus at Goldsmiths University. Yomi’s debut novel, The Interpreter, has been acquired and will be published by Viking. 

Short Bio