Yasmin Joseph


Yasmin Joseph is a British-Caribbean playwright and screenwriter. She is best known for her debut play J'Ouvert, which premiered at the fringe venue Theatre503 in 2019, before moving to the West End.

Early life and education

Yasmin Joseph was born in London, grew up in the north London borough of Camden. She is of Caribbean descent; her grandparents had come to the UK from the Caribbean islands as part of the Windrush Generation. One grandmother worked as a nurse.
She studied English and drama at university.

Career

Joseph's debut play J'Ouvert premiered at Theatre503 in Battersea in 2019, before moving to the Harold Pinter Theatre in the West End in 2021. The play was inspired by her childhood experiences, when her family was actively involved in creating carnival floats and taking part in the costume parade every summer.
She has written for the Royal Court Theatre, Soho Theatre, and the Actors Touring Company, and Clean Break. She used her grandmother's experience as a nurse when she was hired by The Place Theatre in Bedford to write a drama based on memoirs compiled by the Retired Caribbean Nurses Association.
Joseph is an alumnus of Sister Pictures' writer-in-residence scheme. She has worked on writing screenplays, developing projects for Sister Pictures, and was a co-writer on the period drama series A Thousand Blows.
She is based in London.

Recognition and awards