Hari Ziyad (he/they) is an award-winning screenwriter, the author of the bestselling memoir Black Boy Out of Time (Little A, 2021), and a certified death doula. Born in Cleveland, OH, as the only queer sibling among nineteen children between a Black Hindu mother and Muslim father, their passion for storytelling through diverse perspectives has always fueled them, even as their career journey has taken many turns.
After studying film at a school that shall not be named, Hari left a job in television production to work as an editor and journalist. Their essays—which have been published in Vanity Fair, The Guardian, Huffington Post, Gawker, Out, Ebony, Mic, Paste Magazine, AFROPUNK, in the peer-reviewed academic journal Critical Ethnic Studies, and in the anthology The Future is Black: Afropessimism, Fugitivity and Radical Hope in Education, among other publications—led to an opportunity to consult on the TV series David Makes Man (OWN). This experience reignited Hari’s passion for film and television just as their mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
As one of their mother’s caregivers for the last nine months of her life, Hari discovered unique skills for supporting the dying. This inspired Hari to become a death doula, where they assist individuals and families through end-of-life transitions. It is a calling deeply intertwined with Hari’s writing, which generally uses a comedic lens to explore how our identities shape our responses to loss and grief.
Recipient of the Inevitable Foundation’s Elevate Collective + STARZ #TakeTheLead Grant and a Rideback Rise Circle Member, Hari is currently a writer on the Wondery podcast Black History, For Real, and was previously a staff writer on The Neighborhood (CBS).
They are a BlueCat Screenplay Competition and Athena Film Festival Writers Lab semi-finalist, a Sundance Development Lab and Austin Film Fest Screenplay Competition second rounder, they’ve made the shortlist for The Blacklist + GM Writer-Driven Shorts Incubator, and they’ve advanced in several other writing competitions including Outstanding Screenplays, Screencraft, Filmmatic. They created and are the former Editor-In-Chief of the digital publication RaceBaitr, and were previously the Managing Editor of Black Youth Project, and an Assistant Editor of Vinyl Poetry & Prose. They are currently at work developing a few television, film, and podcast projects.
photo by laquann dawson