IWP Sunday Afternoon Reading Series

About this event

Please join us for our annual IWP Sunday Afternoon Reading Series! This week’s event features IWP Residents Zodwa Nyoni (Zimbabwe, United Kingdom), Jun Li (Hong Kong), and Ingeborg von Zadow (Germany). They will be accompanied by Iowa Playwrights Workshop MFA candidate Darrin Terpstra. Zodwa Nyoni is a Zimbabwean-born writer and director whose multidisciplinary work spans theatre, film, radio, and opera. She first rose to prominence with her debut play, Boi Boi is Dead, which won the Channel 4 Playwrights’ Scheme and was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Since, her plays have been staged across Europe, Africa, and North America. In 2025, she premiered three projects: Liberation: Manchester International Festival production exploring the 1945 Fifth Pan-African Congress, nominated for Best Playwright at the Black British Theatre Awards and Alfred Fagon Award finalist. Tears Are Not Meant to Stay Inside: An opera focused on ancestral healing for Buxton International Festival. Castlevania: Nocturne: Series 2 of Netflix’s spin off animated series set during the French Revolution. Zodwa has directed three short films, including the award-winning short The Ancestors. It 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 is a BAFTA Connect member and former Oxbelly International Fellow (Greece). Zodwa supports multidisciplinary artists and writers as a Lecturer in Scriptwriting at Manchester Metropolitan University and freelance dramaturg and script editor. Jun Li is a Hong Kong writer director. His film works include Tracey (2018), Drifting (2021), and Queerpanorama (2025). He won Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director at the 58th and 62nd Golden Horse Film Awards for the latter two. His theatre works include Song of Grief (2018-2019) and In a Perfect World (2025). He won Best Play and Best Script for the…

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