Aziza Barnes

Aziza Danielle Bailey Barnes (October 8, 1992 – December 15, 2024) was an American poet, screenwriter and playwright. Barnes frequently performed slam poetry and performed at the Da Poetry Lounge, Urban Word NYC, PBS News Hour and Nuyoricans Poets Café. They wrote for television shows, including Snowfall and Teenage Bounty Hunters. They went to undergrad at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts. They received their MFA from the University of Mississippi.

Career A performer, Barnes was a member of the Divine Fabrics Collective, alongside fellow writers Safia Elhillo, Camonghne Felix, and Sean "Mega" DesVignes. Barnes was the author of the chapbook me Aunt Jemima and the nailgun (2013), which became the first book to ever win a prize from Button Poetry. Their full-length collection, i be but i ain’t (2016), won a Pamet River Prize from YesYes Books. They were the co-founder of the Poetry Gods podcast and the co-founder of The Conversation Literary Festival. Barnes wrote the play BLKS, which was played at Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago. Their debut novel, The Blind Pig, was published by Not A Cult on October 14, 2019. Barnes wrote the play Pues Nada (2020).

BLKS BLKS is the story of four black millennial friends, Octavia, June, Ry and Imani, who share a New York City apartment. The story is a "day in the life" style of work and was called "comedic social realism". The production was compared to the drama series Girls. BLKS was originally Barnes' final thesis project at NYU.

Actresses Nora Carroll, Leea Ayers, Danielle Davis and Celeste M. Cooper performed in the Steppenwolf Theatre Company rendition of BLKS. The show was directed by Nataki Garrett. The show debuted on December 18, 2017, and ran through January 28, 2018. Barnes was nominated for the Lucille Lortel Award for the play that same year.

Barnes made their acting debut in June 2024 with their play FKA I Am a Bad Blk Person, which is a sequel to BLKS.

Television Barnes wrote for the series Snowfall, Teenage Bounty Hunters, Rap Sh!t, and the Game of Thrones prequel A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

Personal life and death Barnes was black and identified as queer. They also lived in Bedford–Stuyvesant. Barnes used they/them pronouns.