Ahdri Zhina Mandiela (born May 10, 1953) is a Canadian dub poet, theatre producer and artistic director, based Toronto.ahdri zhina mandiela Answers.com She has gained worldwide acclaim for her books, music recordings, film, theatre and dance productions.mandiela griots.netahdri zhina mandiela Poet Bureau Mandiela is the founder and artistic director of "b current",b current a not-for-profit performance arts company in Toronto.
In 2006, she was selected to write and direct a project for Winnie Mandela as part of the 50th anniversary of the South African Women's Liberation Movement.ahdri zhina mandiela and Ms. Winnie Madikizela - Mandela Britgirlproductions.com
Over the following decades, mandiela continued to develop her practice as a director, mentor, and performer, nurturing generations of artists through b current and advancing the presence of Black women’s voices in Canadian theatre. In 2025, she returned to the screen in the title role of Aunt Harriet: An Ontario Oratorio, an audiovisual installation directed by mixed-media artist HAUI. The work reimagines the final day of Harriet Miller, a nineteenth-century Black elder from southern Ontario, through poetry and performance. Mandiela’s portrayal merges her long-standing interest in dub poetics, ancestral memory, and oral tradition.
Personal life Mandiela's daughter is actress and director Jajube Mandiela.
Works
Books and music Speshal Rikwes [Poems in Dialect] (p. 1985)Speshal Rikwes Biblio.com Dark Diaspora... in Dub (p. 1991) Dark Diaspora... in Dub OpenLibrary.org step into my head (1995)ahdri zhina mandiela CD Baby
Theatre A Midsummer Night's Dream with "a contemporary, urban interpretation with a Caribbean twist." (2007)A Midsummer Night’s Dream "Who Knew Grannie: A Dub Aria" (2010)
Film on/black/stage/women a documentary covering 30 years of contributions made by Black women to Toronto's theatre scene. Upcoming audiovisual work Aunt Harriet, directed and devise by mixed media artist HAUI released in 2025
Awards 2006 The Silver Ticket Award, for Outstanding Contribution to the Development of Canadian TheatreThe Dora Awards Torontoist Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award – Theatre (2007)Canada Council names 2007 winners of mid-career award CBCNews 2025 Gascon-Thomas Award for Lifetime Achievement ahdri zhina mandiela and Brigitte Poupart: Recipients of the 2025 Gascon-Thomas Awards from the National Theatre School of Canada MyScena
See also
Postcolonial feminism
References
External links jumping in head first: an interview with ahdri zhina mandiela Susan Gingell, University of Saskatchewan