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 from 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, Hari left television production to work as an editor and journalist. Their essays 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. These writings led to an opportunity to consult on the TV series David Makes Man (OWN). This reignited Hari’s passion for film and television, just as their mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Caregiving for their mother during the last six months of her life illuminated a particular skillset for supporting the dying. It inspired Hari to become a death doula, a role wherein they assist individuals and families through end-of-life transitions. It is a calling deeply intertwined with Hari’s writing, which generally uses elevated genre and/or comedy to explore how our identities shape responses to loss and grief.
Hari is a recipient of the Inevitable Foundation’s Elevate + STARZ #TakeTheLead Grant and a Rideback Rise Circle Member (2024 & 2025). They were previously a writer on the Wondery podcast Black History, For Real, and a staff writer on The Neighborhood (CBS).
They are a BlueCat Screenplay Competition and Athena Film Festival Writers Lab semi-finalist, and 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. Previously, they were the Managing Editor of Black Youth Project, and an Assistant Editor of Vinyl Poetry & Prose. Hari is currently at work developing television, film, book, and podcast projects.
photo by laquann dawson