When a midnight ritual to chase away jinn wakes her neighbour Daniel, Noor sparks a connection that burns through superstition, desire, and generational curses. This is a contemporary love story that plays with myth, fire and the shadow of the Iblis. Co-created by Testament and afshan d’souza-lodhi Testament and afshan d’souza-lodhi are award-winning writers and performers whose work spans […]
Gitika Buttoo (Director) and afshan d’souza-lodhi (Writer/Storyteller) were commissioned by Factory International as part of their Artist Takeover for the North Warehouse at Aviva Studios “As South Asian creatives based in Greater Manchester, we bring a collaborative approach that draws from our diverse backgrounds in theatre, film, radio, and poetry. Over the years, we have […]
TAMASHA TALES is a new series of commissioned short pieces, which celebrates global storytelling and cultural intersectionality through multi-disciplinary artistic collaboration. Folk tales, myths and fairy tales bridge the gap between our childhood and adulthood and for that reason they continue to resonate and endure generation after generation. Ultimately, these stories reflect upon and teach […]
afshan was commissioned by Oldham Coliseum Theatre to write their brand new production The Engagement Party. 18 February-22 February 2025 Meet Zack, a nature-loving foodie, and Sofia, a passionate city-loving girl. Their unexpected love story began in a chicken shop in Oldham, but as their relationship flourishes, so do their differences. Guests gather for their […]
afshan and director Gitika Buttoo through Polari Productions were awarded BFI funding to create a short film called Before I Do. The film is currently touring film festivals. Before I Do Logline: On the morning of her wedding day, Mona, a British-Indian woman, questions her rushed marriage and reflects on a period of self-discovery from […]
afshan was executive producer for Hanging By A Thread which was written and directed by Akshay Parvatkar. The film is a Konkani language short film shot in Goa, India. The idyllic existence of two best friends is disrupted when Aditya has his thread ceremony, marking his transition into adulthood. What follows is a lesson on […]
afshan has been selected as this year’s writer-in-residence for Bluebird Pictures. Bluebird Pictures was started in 2017 with the sole aim of creating honest, unapologetic projects, while supporting and nurturing creatives on and off screen. In an industry where the stories of marginalised communities continue to be excluded from the narrative, we believe more organisations […]
This summer we are celebrating the lives of lesser-known individuals from Hampton Court Palace’s history through a selection of performances. A team of talented writers, directors, and actors have given voice to these remarkable stories, lending their own lived experiences to the people presented. Don’t miss these entertaining and thought-provoking short scenes this summer. Pre-book […]
afshan has been awarded Early Development Film Funding for a feature film loosely based on her one woman show How To Eat Mangoes. The Early Development Fund is the first step in the BFI’s development support for live action and animated fiction projects from new feature writers. Successful applicants will receive a grant from the BFI […]
afshan d’souza-lodhi has been selected by the Independent Film Trust for their Creative Corridor Scheme for 2022 Creative Corridor was established to help Black and minority ethnic writer-producers develop the creative and commercial knowledge to help develop transnational co-productions in TV and film. Through this carefully crafted programme, they introduce the five writer-producers from the […]
afshan d’souza-lodhi is one of the first to receive The National Theatre’s Peter Shaffer 2022 Commission in conjunction with The Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. The National Theatre has partnered with the Sir Peter Shaffer Charitable Foundation in committing to supporting playwrights with an initial two-year collaboration. Celebrating the life and career of Sir Peter Shaffer, this partnership […]
afshan was commissioned by The National Black Arts Alliance, Ruskin’s Guild of St George, and Manchester Metropolitan University to respond directly to quotes from Ruskin for a project entitled Everybody Deserves Space. The film was created by students at the University. The quote afshan responded to was: It must be evident to us, at a moment’s thought, […]
Talk show reunions, heartland justice, stateside backlash to the 1970s Iranian hostage crisis, and faith vs a child’s transgender identity are among the stories that make up the second annual Muslim List. This year’s list includes ‘Chop Chop’ by afshan d’souza-lodhi. The collaboration between The Black List, the Muslim Public Affairs Council Hollywood Bureau and Pillars […]
afshan has been selected as one of the writers to take part in the BFI Flare and BAFTA mentoring programme. BFI Flare x BAFTA in partnership with BFI NETWORK, showcases and supports the next generation of LGBTQIA+ filmmakers working across film and television, with year-round mentoring, career coaching and development opportunities. Now in its eight year, the BFI Flare x BAFTA Mentoring […]
afshan has been selected as one of the associate artists for Oldham Coliseum. Over the 12 months, each artist will create at least one project in collaboration with Oldham Coliseum. afshan will be working on a new theatre piece around the role of activism within our communities. Oldham Coliseum Theatre is welcoming seven passionate and […]
SUPPORTING POWERFUL STORYTELLING: NEW PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN ROYAL EXCHANGE THEATRE AND WARNERMEDIA CHAMPIONS MANCHESTER WRITERS The Royal Exchange Theatre and WarnerMedia welcomed three brilliantly talented emerging writers, afshan d’Souza-lodhi, Stefanie Reynolds and Samuel Rossiter, to their brand-new joint programme WRITERS EXCHANGE. Designed to support writers in Greater Manchester whose voices are currently under-represented in both industries, and who have experienced barriers to forging sustainable […]
assorted nasties and other love letters, a new project that afshan is working on involving short stories has been funded by The Arts Council England’s Developing Your Creative Practice (DYCP) fund. afshan will be spending time during the following year to develop her craft, attend workshops and work with a mentor on a new collection […]
afshan has a poem featured on Nymphs & Thugs new album Disarm Hate: We Will Keep On. The ‘Disarm Hate x Poetry’ project commissioned 16 of the world’s leading LGBTQ poets to respond to the ‘Disarm Hate‘ documentary. The resulting album was released digitally on 12 June, which marks five years since the Orlando massacre. […]
Tell Me Who We Were Before Life Made Us is a poetry anthology edited by Maz Hedgehog. Published in June 2021. buy direct from the publisher: https://www.3ofcups.co.uk/shop/bp7b87wb0vwn21ofqkfqaunexo17ya This is an anthology about imagined histories. Featuring poetry inspired by fairy tales, folklore, urban legends, creation myths, founding myths, Greek/Haitian/Indian/Mancunian myths. Here are our counterfactuals, our apocrypha, […]
afshan has an essay featured in Flipped Eye’s new anthology Not Quite Right For Us. A celebration of outsiderness and an ode to otherness, Not Quite Right For Us is a singular collection of stories, essays and poems by a dynamic mix of established and surging voices alike, edited by Sharmilla Beezmohun. Buy the book direct from […]
How to Eat Mangoes is a radical and sensual antidote to the narratives of destruction and death we are being fed by the mainstream media. How to Eat Mangoes takes stories about rishta aunties (matchmaking aunties), erotic fiction and the exotic mango to question how we love, how we heal and most importantly how we eat mangoes. While a rishta aunty tells us who and how we should love, sounds of mangoes being eaten punctuate her every word. We’re left with suggestions […]
afshan is the Sky Writes Writer-In-Residence for Rotherham. Sky Writes is a pioneering writing for television programme created by New Writing North and Sky Studios. The programme is looking to find new television writers from under-represented backgrounds and encourage them to develop their creative and professional skills. Sky Writes is produced by New Writing North […]
Afshan is Georgetown University’s labfellow for Global Performance and Politics The second cohort of Fellows started in 2020 and will complete their tenure in spring of 2022, overlapping with the incoming cohort and thus providing an opportunity for cross-pollination and further relationship building between the groups. This second cohort hails from Vietnam, South Africa, Kenya, […]
![[re: desire]](https://afshandl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/redesirebook-scaled.jpg)
ORDER the collection direct from the publisher here Afshan D’souza-Lodhi’s debut poetry collection re: desire explores the yearning to love, be loved and belong from a desi (South Asian) perspective. Her work sits on the intersections of flash fiction, poetry and script, echoing the hybridity of the worlds that many young British desis find themselves occupying. Drawing on […]
BOOK TICKETS FOR VAULT FESTIVAL HERE Santi & Naz are best friends living in a small village in pre-partition India. Their story spans between 1945 & 1949. When Naz is betrothed to an older man, the threat of separation for the young women looms large on the horizon. As the political situation around partition worsens […]
afshan d’souza-lodhi was born in Dubai and forged in Manchester. She is a writer, activist, and organiser whose work spans storytelling, community-building, and systems change. As a writer of award-winning scripts and poetry, her work has been performed and translated into numerous languages across the world. She has been writer-in-residence for Sky Studios, New Writing North, Royal Exchange Theatre, Warner Bros Discovery and Bluebird Pictures, and was one of the first recipients of The National Theatre’s Peter Shaffer Award in 2022.
Her television work includes developing a series with Sky Studios, and her pilot Chop Chop was selected for the second annual #MuslimList (The Black List). Alongside her creative practice, afshan specialises in grassroots organisational systems, strategy development, and working with philanthropic organisations to deliver participatory grant-making programmes.afshan also sits on the board of Pie Radio and is the Writers Guild Great Britain Regional Chair of Manchester and Lancashire. She is a strong advocate for diverse arts and cultural spaces and continues to champion younger and emerging voices in the arts.
twitter/ instagram: @afshandl