Zena Edwards (born 1960s) is a British writer, poet, performer and multidisciplinary collaborator, who explores her African roots in work that utilises her musical talents.
[3] Of Caribbean heritage and African descent, she was born in Hackney and brought up in Tottenham, North London,[4] the only child in a single-parent family.
[3] Her career as a performance poet spans more than two decades and in her extensive worldwide travels (supported by the British Council, UK Arts International, Apples and Snakes, The Roundhouse and 57 Productions) she has shared a stage with the likes of Linton Kwesi Johnson, Sonia Sanchez, Lemn Sissay, Jean Binta Breeze and Roger McGough,[6] as well as doing other collaborative work including with visual artist Theaster Gates, choreographer Qudus Onikeku and dancer Akram Khan,[7] and has toured with other high-profile names such as Hugh Masekela, The Last Poets and Baba Maal.
[10] She has written and performed three solo shows, Security (2009) — described by Annemarie Kropf as "an absolute tour de force about humanity that bonds us all", and about which Lyn Gardner said in The Guardian: "Edwards is a superb performer, equally at ease as an elderly Caribbean man, as a would-be teenage MC, Ayleen, or as a lonely, 47-year-old Palestinian photographer, Mahmoud" — and in 2011 Travelling Light (2011), followed by The Fury Project.
[11] She has also produced the CDs Healing Pool ("a clever and fresh fusion of eclectic, soulful and African traditional vibrations") and Mine 4 Life.