From the North West of England, Yrsa Daley-Ward is a poet, writer, and actress of mixed Jamaican and Nigerian heritage. She is the author of The How, bone, The Catch-up and The Terrible, her autobiographical novel, for which she won the PEN Ackerley Prize. She is most known for her debut book, and live poetry performances. Yrsa fuses poetry with theatre, music, and storytelling and has been writing for as long as she can remember.
Yrsa also co-wrote Black Is King, Beyoncé's musical film and visual album. Yrsa's upcoming suspenseful novel, The Catch, will be published by Liferight Books, WW Norton, in June 2025. She splits her time between Los Angeles and New York. Her popular Substack newsletter, 'The Utter,' reaches tens of thousands of subscribers weekly.
"If you're afraid to write it, that's a good sign. I suppose you know you're writing the truth when you're terrified"