Nakkiah Lui

Nakkiah Lui

Nakkiah Lui is a writer and Gamillaroi and Torres Strait Islander woman. She was an associate artist at Belvoir from 2012 to 2014 and was an artist-in-residence at Griffin Theatre Company in 2013. Her play Kill the Messenger was part of Belvoir’s 2015 Season, and her debut play, This Heaven, was in the 2013 Season. Nakkiah wrote My Dreaming, Our Awakening, the first radio play on ABC Radio National’s Awaye program. She wrote and directed From Drag King to Law Queen and BabyGirl, which have been shown at the Chauvel Cinema, on the ABC and the Colourise Festival. Nakkiah’s previous works also include I Should Have Told You Before We Made Love (That I’m Black) (You Are Here Festival 2012), Stho Sthexy (MKA Melbourne 2013), Blackie Blackie Brown: The Traditional Owners of Death (Bondi Feast, Tamarama Rock Surfers 2013). Nakkiah was dramaturg on the Sisters Grimm production The Sovereign Wife (MTC’s NEON Festival), which won Best Independent Production at the 2014 Green Room Awards. She has also been a writer and actor for Black Comedy (ABC 2014) and writer of Blak Cabaret (Sydney Festival/Malthouse Theatre 2015). In 2012 Nakkiah was the first recipient of The Dreaming Award from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Board of the Australia Council. The same year Nakkiah was also the inaugural recipient of The Balnaves Foundation Indigenous Playwright’s Award. In 2014 Nakkiah was the recipient of the Malcolm Robertson Prize. Nakkiah is also a young leader in the Australian Aboriginal community and has contributed to The Guardian, been a featured panellist at the 2014 Sydney Writers Festival, and has appeared on the ABC’s The Drum.