BAFTA Nominee Yolanda Mercy is a British Nigerian writer, performer, and director whose creative journey has taken her from the stages of London to the international screens of television and beyond. Her writing has been recognised with nominations for prestigious awards such as BAFTA, WGGB, and Broadcast Award.

Additionally, Yolanda's talents have earned her the esteemed Edinburgh TV Festival “New Voices Award”, Underbelly Untapped Award and Another Route fellowship. As an alumni of prolific fellowships including JMK mentoring, Soho Theatre Six, and Film4, Yolanda continues to build bridges and foster collaboration within the artistic community. Currently, Yolanda is crafting original projects for both screen and theatre.

Evan is a Canadian-British playwright and screenwriter who lives in London, UK. His debut play Mother of Him won the inaugural RBC National Playwriting Award at the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto, the King’s Cross Award in the UK, and the Samuel French Canadian Play Award in the USA. The play went on to be produced internationally and was adapted for BBC Radio. It was revived at the Park Theatre, London, and the Korean version will open in 2025 at the National Theatre Company of Korea.

His other plays include Girls Like That; Orange Polar Bear; Keepy Uppy, Consensual, Pronoun WiLd!, Scarberia, Holloway Jones, Banana Boys, Jekyll& Hyde, and Peter Pan. Awards include: Jugend Theatre Preis Baden-Wurttemberg (Germany), Scenic Youth prize (France), Brian Way Award, Royal Society of Literature’s Literature Matters Award and the Writers’ Guild Award for Best Play for Young Audiences (all UK). His plays have been translated into more than a dozen languages. For television He has written for Soulmates (AMC/Amazon), The Bay (ITV) and The Tattooist of Auschwitz (Sky/Peacock). Evan was recently named on the Brit List.

Moira is one of the UK’s leading script-writers. She has written acclaimed TV, Films and Plays, including, The Dig, Harlots, Jane Eyre, Tamara Drewe, Dinner and Handbagged. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Society of Arts. Songlight is her debut novel. Moira lives in London.

Michael Wynne is an Olivier and BAFTA winning playwright and screenwriter. He has written many plays for the Royal Court Theatre, London, including his first play, the multi award winning, The Knocky. The People Are Friendly, Who Cares and Olivier Award winning The Priory all premiered at the Royal Court too. He has written extensively for TV, including the film Lapland which premiered on BBC1 Christmas Eve, starring Stephen Graham, Sue Johnston and Zawe Ashton and the spin off 6-part series Being Eileen. Upcoming work includes a new immersive show for Caesars Palace, Las Vegas that opens August 2024 entitled DiscoShow – directed by Steven Hoggett.

My name is Boluwatife ( Tife ) Kusoro and I am a Nigerian-British writer and performer. I live and work in London but I was born in Lagos, in 1998, and share a birthday with some of my favourite people: Ali Smith, Linton Kwesi Johnson and Marsha P Johnson. In 2019, I graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in English Literature and trained as an actor with the National Youth Theatre's 2020/21 Rep Company.

My first full length works for theatre We Have Sinned (b. 2017) and Fly Home Butterfly (b. 2018) were shortlisted for awards including the Alfred Fagon Award (2017 + 2018) , the Verity Bargate Award (2020), and the Women's Prize for Playwriting (2020). I have also undertaken attachments with Talawa Theatre Company, the Bush Theatre and the Royal Court, and was one of the BBC's 2021 London Voices. I am currently under commission to The Royal Court Theatre as a Jerwood New Playwright and have original film and tv projects in development.

I am an Actor and Writer originally from Northumberland, and I trained with the National Youth Theatre’s REP Company in 2022. I am eager to tell queer stories and hope to find as much joy and humour in my work as possible.