Winsome Pinnock

Winsome Pinnock FRSL (born 1961) is a British playwright who is "probably Britain's most well known black female playwright". She was described in The Guardian as "the godmother of black British playwrights".

Life Winsome Pinnock was born in Islington, North London, to parents who were both migrants from Smithville, Jamaica. Her mother was a cleaner, and her father a checker at Smithfield Meat Market. Pinnock attended Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Comprehensive Girls' School (formerly Starcross School) in Islington, and graduated from Goldsmiths' College, University of London (1979–82) with a BA (Joint Honours) degree in English and Drama, and in 1983 from Birkbeck College, University of London, with an MA degree in Modern Literature in English.Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Kingston University London.

Pinnock's award-winning plays include The Winds of Change (Half Moon Theatre, 1987), Leave Taking (Liverpool Playhouse Studio, 1987; Lyric Theatre (Hammersmith), 1990; National Theatre, 1995), Picture Palace (commissioned by the Women's Theatre Group, 1988), A Hero's Welcome (Women's Playhouse Trust at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, 1989), A Rock in Water (Royal Court Young People's Theatre at the Theatre Upstairs, 1989; inspired by the life of Claudia Jones),Peacock, D. Keith, "Chapter 9: So People Know We're Here: Black Theatre in Britain" in Thatcher's Theatre: British Theatre and Drama in the Eighties, Greenwood Press, 1999, p. 179. Talking in Tongues (Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, 1991), Mules (Clean Break, 1996) and One Under (Tricycle Theatre, 2005)."Winsome Pinnock", Drama Online. She also adapted Jean Rhys' short story "Let Them Call It Jazz" for BBC Radio 4 in 1998, and has written screenplays and television episodes. Pinnock's work is included in the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby.

Pinnock has been Visiting Lecturer at Royal Holloway College, University of London, and Senior Visiting Fellow at the University of Cambridge. She lectures at Kingston University, London. In 2020, she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL).

In 2022, Pinnock was the recipient of a Windham-Campbell Literature Prize for drama.

Awards 1991: George Devine Award Unity Theatre Trust Award Pearson Plays on Stage Award For Best Play of the Year 2018: Alfred Fagon Award"2018 Award", Alfred Fagon Award. 2020: Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature 2022: Windham-Campbell Literature Prize (drama)

Selected works The Winds Of Change, Half Moon Theatre, London, 1987. Leave Taking, Playhouse, Liverpool, 1987, and National Theatre, London, 1988. Lyric Theatre (Hammersmith), 1990; Bush Theatre, May 2018.Leave Taking at Bush Theatre (24 May–30 June 2018). Picture Palace, Women's Theatre Group, London, 1988. A Rock In Water, Royal Court Young People's Theatre at the Theatre Upstairs, Royal Court Theatre, London, 1989. Published in Black Plays: 2, ed. Yvonne Brewster, London: Methuen Drama, 1989. A Hero's Welcome, Women's Playhouse Trust at the Theatre Upstairs, Royal Court Theatre, London, 1989.Published in Six Plays by Black and Asian Women Writers (2022), Aurora Metro Books. Retrieved 10 June 2025. Talking In Tongues, Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, London, 1991. Published in The Methuen Drama Book of Plays by Black British Writers, Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2011, Mules, Clean Break, Royal Court Theatre, London, 1996 Can You Keep a Secret?, Cottesloe Theatre, National Theatre, London, 1999 Water, Tricycle Theatre, London, 2000. One Under, Tricycle Theatre, London, 2005. IDP, Tricycle Theatre, London, 2006Winsome Pinnock page at Doolee.com. Taken, Soho Theatre, London, 2010. Her Father's Daughter, BBC Radio 4. The Dinner Party, BBC Radio 4. Lazarus, BBC Radio 3, 2013. The Principles of Cartography, Bush Theatre, 2017. Rockets and Blue Lights, 2018 The Authenticator, Royal National Theatre, 2026. Tituba, Court Theatre, 2026

Winsome Pinnock

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