Darrel Alejandro Holnes (he/they) is an Afro-Panamanian American writer, director, and producer. Holnes is the author of Stepmotherland, winner of the Andres Montoya Poetry Prize and the International Latino Book Award in Poetry, and Migrant Psalms, winner of the Drinking Gourd Poetry Prize. His plays have received productions or readings at numerous theaters, including the Kennedy Center for the Arts American College Theater Festival, The Brick Theater, Kitchen Theater Company, Pregones Theater/PRTT, The Sol Project, and others. His play Black Feminist Video Game was produced by The Civilians for 59E59 Theaters, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Center Theater Group, and more, winning an inaugural Anthem Award from The Webbys. His play Bayano received a workshop production at the National Black Theater where he was the I Am Soul Playwright in Residence, and it will have its world premiere at True Colors Theater in Atlanta. His play Bird of Prey was recently recorded for the Parsnip Ship podcast at JACK. His other plays include Starry Night, a finalist for the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference and the Princess Grace Award in Playwriting. Named an “Innovative Storyteller” by TIME Magazine as a part of a research team with Hurricane Katrina and Rita survivors, Holnes is the recipient of research grants from the National Science Foundation, and writing prizes such as the National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship, CP Cavafy Poetry Prize, Juan Felipe Herrera Best Poetry Book Award, and others.

He is the founder of various initiatives, including the Candela Playwrights Summer Fellowship program, and an inaugural recipient of the Creatives Rebuild New York/ Artist Employment Program and the Catalyst Fellowship from the Dramatists Guild Foundation. He recently directed Laughs in Spanish by Alexis Scheer at The Kitchen Theater Company and his films include Marimacha, which premiered at the New York Latino Film Festival and has been screened at over two dozen festivals worldwide, winning several awards, including Best of the Fest at Pride Film Fest, Best LGBT Short at the LA Independent Women Film Awards, Best LGBT+ Short Film from the Sierra International Film Weekend, and the Director’s Choice Award from Cinema Diverse, and other forthcoming projects.