Yomi Sode

Yomi is a Nigerian British spoken word artist and playwright. His writing explores immigration, identity and displacement, particularly through the lens of examining intergenerational relationships. He seeks to use his first-hand experience as a long-time social worker to explore and expose the complexities, injustices, and gaps within the social care system. His writing is lyrical and incisively probing, and has warmth, humanity and truthfulness at its heart.

His debut solo play COAT, about immigration, identity and displacement, was developed with Nimble Fish, Apples & Snakes, Southbank, and as part of the Last Word Festival at the Roundhouse. It then played at the Roundhouse before touring with performances at the Battersea Arts Centre, The Albany Theatre, and festivals including Africa Writes Festival and Brighton Festival. AND BREATHE..., the live theatrical adaptation of poems from the 3rd section of MANORISM, premiered at the Almeida Theatre in June 2021, starring David Jonsson and directed by Miranda Cromwell. Yomi’s play WALTZ, about his lived experiences as a social worker, had a reading at the Bush Theatre in 2021 directed by Daniel Bailey, and MANORISM, an immersive adaptation of his first poetry collection, recently opened at the Southbank Centre as a genre-breaking fusion of live poetry, dance, projection, music and theatre.

Yomi’s work has been published in Rialto Magazine, The Poetry Review, Bare lit and 10: Poets of the New Generation, Bare Lit Anthology, his essay ‘The F Word’ was included in the book SAFE: 20 WAYS TO BE A BLACK MAN IN BRITAIN and MANORISM was published by Penguin in October 2022 and shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Award 2022.