Janice Okoh

{{Infobox writer

| name = Janice Okoh

| alma_mater = {{Plainlist|

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| occupation = Playwright, screenwriter

| awards = {{Plainlist|

Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting

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| notableworks = Three Birds

}}

Janice Okoh is a British playwright and screenwriter.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bafta.org/supporting-talent/elevate/janice-okoh|title=Janice Okoh|date=27 June 2018|website=Bafta.org|access-date=1 March 2022}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.independenttalent.com/writers/janice-okoh/|title=Janice Okoh|website=Independenttalent.com|access-date=1 March 2022}}

Early life

Okoh is from Lewisham, South-East London, the daughter of Nigerian parents Gladys and Hezekiah Okoh from Delta State. Okoh attended a local primary school and then boarded at St Michael's School for Girls in Limpsfield near Oxted. She studied Law at Keele University.{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsshopper.co.uk/leisure/thingstodo/10286088.playwright-janice-okoh-from-lewisham-discusses-award-winning-three-birds/|title=Playwright Janice Okoh from Lewisham discusses award winning Three Birds|work=News Shopper|first=Heloise|last=Wood|date=13 March 2013|accessdate=14 April 2025}} Before becoming a playwright, she worked at law firms in the City for seven years and as a teacher. Okoh pursued a Master of Arts (MA) in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia (UEA).{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-15738470|title=Bruntwood script prize won by ex-legal assistant|work=BBC News|date=15 November 2011|accessdate=12 April 2025}}

Career

Her first play Egusi Soup was produced in 2012 by Menagerie Theatre/Soho Theatre. In 2011 Okoh won the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting for her play Three Birds (which would be produced in 2013), which she entered under a pseudonym Ebenezer Foot.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/uk-travel/england/london-travel/janice-okoh-on-her-bruntwood-prize-winning-drama-35c22r3hjtw|title=Janice Okoh on her Bruntwood prize winning drama|work=The Times|date=17 November 2011}} The play was also short-listed for the Verity Bargate Award and the Alfred Fagon Award. She adapted the play for the television series

Just Act Normal, broadcast on BBC Three from 16 April 2025.{{cite web|website=The Guardian|accessdate=14 April 2025|url= https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/apr/12/just-act-normal-the-dark-comedy-drama-thats-a-tv-feelgood-joy|title= Just Act Normal: the dark comedy drama that's a TV feelgood joy|first=Rachel|last=Aroesti|date=12 April 2025}}

Okoh's play The Gift (2020) tells the story of the Egbado princess Sarah Bonetta who was given to Queen Victoria as a gift, and raised as her god-daughter. The play opened at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry in January 2020 before moving on to the Theatre Royal Stratford East.Ian Youngs, [https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-51177299 The writers breathing life into black British history], BBC News, 22 January 2020. Accessed 6 July 2020. It was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.{{Cite web|url=https://www.blackburnprize.org/home/2021-finalists/janice-okoh/|title=Janice Okoh | The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize|website=Blackburnprize.org|access-date=1 March 2022}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/BWW-Exclusive-Meet-the-2021-Susan-Smith-Blackburn-Prize-Finalists--Janice-Okoh-20210401|title=BWW Exclusive: Meet the 2021 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Finalists- Janice Okoh|first=Nicole|last=Rosky|website=BroadwayWorld.com|access-date=1 March 2022}} She has also written for radio, including an adaptation of Malorie Blackman’s Noughts & Crosses.

Okoh has also written for television, contributing episodes of Doctors, Hetty Feather and On the Edge . She joined the writing team for series 2 of ITV's Sanditon.{{Cite web|url=https://www.itv.com/presscentre/britbox/press-releases/first-look-images-second-series-sanditon|title=First look images for second series of Sanditon|website=Itv.com|access-date=1 March 2022}}