More about your gal

Hi, I'm Malaika Kegode. I'm an award-winning writer, performer, mentor, theatre-maker and creative producer. I love finding stories between the cracks in the pavement and then helping them to grow.

I began my creative career as a performance poet in 2014, a path which led me to perform across the UK at many iconic venues, festivals and literary events such as The 100 Club, WOMAD, the Southbank Centre and The Scottish Storytelling Centre. I have three published poetry books — a full collection Requite (2017), a pamphlet, Thalassic (2019), and a zine, Body Buffet (2022) — and my second full collection Good as a Rest is forthcoming from Burning Eye Books. My poetry also features in anthologies published by Trapeze, Bad Betty Press, Burning Eye Books and Bristol Ideas. I am also the founder, artistic director and host of Milk Poetry, one of Bristol's longest-running spoken word organisations.

I grew up in Devon, and now live in Bristol. In addition to poetry, I make live shows for theatre, write for music, radio and screen, produce events, facilitate workshops, and advocate for others to be able to do the same. I believe creativity is one of our greatest tools for healing and connection, and this belief drives all aspects of my practice.

My theatre work includes my debut spoken word gig-theatre show Outlier, produced for Bristol Old Vic's main stage and earning four-star reviews from the Guardian and The Stage. My children's show The Colour of Dinosaurs toured nationally in 2023/4, culminating at Southbank Centre's Imagine Festival. In 2026, I'm premiering Badgers — a folk horror theatre-audio hybrid — at Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, produced by Theatre Royal Plymouth in association with Bristol Old Vic. I am also writing the libretto for English Touring Opera's Mimi and the Golden Touch.

I am also passionate about cinema. I've worked as a curatorial associate for Watershed, a resident artist for Encounters Film Festival, and programme selector for a number of film festivals including Queer Vision and Tallinn Black Nights. I was selected to be part of the Cinema Rediscovered Film Critic Workshop, and was awarded the Elspeth Kydd Memorial Prize for my screenwriting portfolio in 2021.

My radio drama Tribe of Two (produced by Afonica for BBC Radio 4) was shortlisted for the prestigious Imison Award by the Society of Authors. In 2025, I was also a mentored writer as part of Channel 4's 4Screenwriting course.

I was an Associate Artist at Bristol Old Vic 2021–2024, part of English Touring Theatre's Nationwide Voices 2023 cohort, and writer-in-residence at the University of Bristol's Theatre Collection in 2022 as a recipient of the Kevin Elyot Award. I was on the creative leadership team at Theatre Royal Plymouth as an Associate Director from 2023 to 2025.

I'm currently a Pervasive Media Studio resident, and a proud Trustee of mental health charity Many Minds.

You can find my third-person bios of different lengths here. My full CV is also available by request. Feel free to get in touch via my contact page.