Nadia Davids

Who is Nadia Davids?

Nadia Davids is an award-winning South African writer—she has been described as one of the country's "most talented up and coming writers". Her work has been published, produced and performed in Southern Africa, Europe and the United States. She was awarded the Rosalie van der Gught Ward for new directors in 2003 and was nominated for the 2007 Noma Award for her play 'At Her Feet'. In 2006, she was a finalist in the South Africa Pen Award judged by Nobel Prize laureate J.M. Coetzee for her short story "Safe Home".In June 2008 she received a PhD in Drama at the University of Cape Town for a thesis entitled "Inherited Memories; Performing the Archive" which explored the trace, memory and trauma of apartheid forced removals in District Six, through the lens of performance. Her latest play "CISSIE", about the life and memory of Cape Town activist Cissie Gool, debuted at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown in July 2008. CISSIE was nominated for three Fleur de Cap Awards, including "Best New South African Play". 'At Her Feet'and 'Cissie', are studied at a wide range of universities including UCT, UWC, Stanford, UCLA and SOAS. Davids shares 3rd place with Ceridwen Dovey in the 2009 SA PEN competition, judged by J.M.Coetzee. Davids was one of ten playwrights participating in the Women's Project Playwrights Lab for 2008-2010. She took up a full-time lecturing post in the Drama Department at Queen Mary's, University of London in September 2009.