Tom Powell

Tom is a playwright and screenwriter whose work has won the Papatango Prize, Off West End Award, Broadstairs International Film Festival Best Film, Harry Porter Prize, and OTR National Radio Drama Prize. He was Clive and Slyvia Richards Foundation Writer-in-Residence at Pentabus 2020/21, selected for the BBC Studios Writers Academy in 2019/20, has been a BBC/Arts Council England New Creative, and has written broadcast episodes of EastEnders and Holby City.

Tom has been selected for writers’ groups at the Royal Court, Southwark Playhouse, Criterion Theatre, Soho Theatre, was a member of the Soho Writers Alumni Group for 5 years, and has co-led Pentabus Local Young Writers, Young Company, and National Young Writers Programme. He is a patron of Southwark Playhouse Young Company and an Associate Artist at Pentabus.

His first play, I Dare You, toured the UK and was shortlisted for the Soho Young Writers Award. His second play, Little Echoes, was Off-West End Award nominated. His third play, The Silence and the Noise won the Papatango Prize, toured the UK in audio form in a co-production with ETT and Papatango, and was called a ‘modest masterpiece’ by the Stage in its 5* review. A digital production, co-produced by Pentabus and Rural Media, won Best Film and Best Actor at the BFFI, and an Off West End Award for Best Online Production. His fourth play, Surfacing, had a sold-out preview run at VAULT festival in 2023 and toured nationally in 2024. His original audio drama, Love Beyond the Zoo, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4Xtra and is available here (from 16’37).

His work has been translated into Polish and Korean. He is published by Methuen/Bloomsbury.