Born in Oshogbo, Western Nigeria, Bode Asiyanbi was educated at Obafemi Awolowo University and Lancaster University. He is a two-time winner of the BBC African Performance Playwriting Prize (2005 and 2011) and the British Council LTF Playwriting Prize (2016 and 2017). His short stories have appeared in Munyori Literary Journal, Kalahari Review, Lawino, Per Contra and Wasafiri. His stage plays include Shattered, Room 69, The Wait, and One Chance!. He describes himself as "a restless troubadour from a long line of village weavers and palace bards; spinning colored yarns of errant stories and seeking lost songs to sing out from rooftops". 

There is power in the unity of a people; be it physical, spiritual, creative or ideological. The proposed research, Trauma, Identity, Memory, and the Journey to Black Nationhood—and its creative imperative—will explore the present state of black identity and how the power of the celebrated culture of black storytellers through their tools of language, culture, music and rituals can stir the hive of history for relevant memories and help redefine black identity, heal collective trauma, and forge a path to black nationhood where Africa and African diaspora speak in a distinct ideological voice.