Chinonyerem Odimba is a Nigerian British playwright, screenwriter, and poet. Her work for theatre includes The Bird Woman of Lewisham at the Arcola; Rainy Season, and His Name is Ishmael for Bristol Old Vic; Joanne for Clean Break, and Amongst the Reeds for Clean Break/The Yard Theatre; Twist for Theatre Centre; Sweetness of a Sting for National Theatre Connections; Medea at Bristol Old Vic; We Too, Are Giants for Kiln Theatre; Unknown Rivers at Hampstead Theatre; Prince and the Pauper at Watermill Theatre; The Seven Ages of Patience at Kiln Theatre; Princess & The Hustler which toured across the UK for Eclipse Theatre/Bristol Old Vic/Hull Truck.

More recently, Chinonyerem has written for Young Vic Theatre on the experimental AI play, RSC/Coventry City of Culture 2021 Faith, and is currently under commission with ETT for Who is She, a projection mapping project, and Kiln Theatre, as well as new commissions for BBC Radio 3 and Regents Park Open Air Theatre.

She has been shortlisted for several awards including the Adrienne Benham and Alfred Fagon awards. In 2015 her unproduced play Wild is De Wind was shortlisted to the final ten for the Bruntwood Playwriting Award. She is the winner for the 2018 Sonia Friedman Award (Channel 4 Playwright Bursary) for a new play How to Walk on the Moon, and a finalist for the inaugural Women Playwriting Prize 2020 for her play Paradise Street.

In 2022, Chinonyerem won the WGGB Writer’s Guild Award for Best Musical Bookwriting for her play Black Love.

Chinonyerem’s TV credits includes Scotch Bonnet for BBC Three and A Blues for Nia for BBC/Eclipse Theatre, Adulting for Channel 4, and more recently My Best Friend Married a Warrior for CBBC. Ans she is currently working on developing a series with Popcorn Productions.

For radio, credits include The Last Flag, and Eve as part of This Is Your Country, Now series on BBC Radio 4.

In April 2021, Chinonyerem Odimba became the new Artistic Director and Chief Executive of tiata fahodzi.

As a director, Chinonyerem has worked for Bristol Old Vic, Theatre503 and Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, as well a new drama Braids by Olivia Hannah for Live Theatre/BBC Radio 4. In January 2022, Chinonyerem directed a new play by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm ‘When the Long Trick’s Over’ for HighTide Theatre. In May 2023, she adapted and directed a stage version of a new children’s eco-fable Every Leaf a Hallelujah by Ben Okri at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.

For tiata fahodzi: in April 2022, she directed her new musical play Black Love at Kiln Theatre. And in Oct 2022, two of the triple bill plays for ‘Talking About a Revolution’ that toured Lyric Hammersmith and Bristol Old Vic.

In Autumn 2023, Chinonyerem will be directing a world premiere of Cheeky Little Brown by Nkenna Akunna which will be touring across the UK to Bristol Old Vic, Belgrade Theatre Coventry, Derby Theatre and The Lowry.