Brixton House x Curtis Brown x Estate of Biyi Bándélé
Submissions for the Biyi Bándélé Bursary for Emerging Writers of the African Diaspora open on 1 June 2026
The Biyi Bándélé Bursary is a new initiative established by the family of Biyi Bándélé in partnership with Brixton House and Curtis Brown to honor the legacy of acclaimed Nigerian writer and filmmaker Biyi Bándélé. In 2024 we celebrated his life with a special memorial event at Brixton House with stories of his incredible life and works to coincide with his final novel, Yorùbá Boy Running.
In the first year, this annual bursary will support three emerging writers of African diaspora heritage, aged 18 and over, who are living in the UK. The bursary is designed to foster new talent, encourage bold storytelling, and amplify underrepresented voices within theatre, film, and literature. The bursaries will be awarded at an event at Brixton House in October, with the programme beginning in Spring 2027.
‘I consider myself to be a storyteller. I use all sorts of media, but I am first and foremost a writer.’
Biyi Bándélé
Biyi came to the United Kingdom from Nigeria on a British Council scholarship and then in 1992 was awarded a bursary from the Arts Council, which gave him space to focus on his writing. He built his career entirely on his own income from his work as a writer and director, a precarious journey for any freelancer far from home.
Born in 1967 to Yoruba parents in Kafanchan, northern Nigeria, Biyi Bándélé left his parents’ house to Lagos at age 14 to earn his living doing odd jobs, while also going to school and writing his first novel. From 1987 to 1990 he studied Drama at the University of Ile-Ife, where his play Rain won him a scholarship that brought him to the UK.
His debut novel, The Man Who Came in From the Back of Beyond, was published in 1991. He followed this with five further novels, The Sympathetic Undertaker, The Street, Burma Boy, and his final novel, Yorùbá Boy Running, which was published in 2024.
He wrote and directed plays with the Royal Court, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Talawa Theatre Company, as well as in radio and television. He was Judith E Wilson fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge (2000-02), and Royal Literary Fund resident playwright at the Bush theatre (2002-03).
His directorial feature film debut, Half of a Yellow Sun (2013), based on the 2006 novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, starred Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandiwe Newton and John Boyega, and his BBC Arena documentary Fela Kuti: Father of Afrobeat aired to critical acclaim in 2020. His final film, Elesin Oba, The King’s Horseman, adapted from Wole Soyinka’s 1975 play, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022.
Bándélé died in August 2022, aged 54.
Biyi’s daughter, artist Temi Bándélé says:
My father believed absolutely in the essential power of storytelling. He was also passionate about writers being taken seriously enough to make storytelling their profession. We hope the Biyi Bándélé Bursary can go some way to providing crucial financial and professional support for writers at whatever time it will help them the most.
Ruth Hawkins, Executive Creative Producer of Brixton House, says:
It was an honour to host the late Biyi Bándélé’s memorial in 2024 – it was an incredible evening celebrating the rich artistic life and community Biyi had cultivated. Writers of the future have a path that Biyi began paving for them, and we thought: what better way to celebrate this than with a bursary and supported programme to honour the legacy Biyi leaves us with? Finding new voices is as exciting now as it’s ever been, and Brixton House is delighted to share this new venture with Biyi’s family and Curtis Brown. I hope there are writers out there for whom this bursary can unlock some barriers.
Writer, actor and director Tonderai Munyevu says:
Biyi Bándélé was an outstanding artist who’s work moved effortlessly across forms and media. In everything he created, there was a sense of an artist unwilling to be confined – especially by the Western lenses. His work consistently carries the grace and dignity of African personhood. I hope this bursary serves as a catalyst for African writers in the diaspora to explore and strengthen their own storytelling across the stage, narrative, and poetry, particularly at a time when the arts and the written word face wide-ranging attacks.
Objectives:
- To celebrate and extend Biyi Bandele’s legacy by nurturing the next generation of African diaspora storytellers.
- To provide holistic support that enables writers to develop original work across any storytelling medium.
- To create pathways into the creative industries through mentorship, development opportunities, and industry exposure.
What the Bursary offers:
- A cash bursary for each selected writer to support creative development.
- A tailored mentorship programme
- Access to creative development support and rehearsal space at Brixton House.
- Creative clinics, workshops, and curated networking opportunities across the year.
- Table read/ scratch performance
- Agent zoom
- Script doctor/notes
Please check back on June 1st where the submissions portal with be open!