Mike Van Graan is a South African playwright with 35 plays under his belt.
He graduated from the University of Cape Town with a BA Honours Degree in Drama and is currently registered for a Ph.D. in Creative Writing through the University of Pretoria, where he was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2018 in recognition of his creative and advocacy work. As a playwright, he has garnered numerous nominations and awards for his plays that interrogate the post-apartheid South African condition. His play on African migration and refugees – When Swallows Cry – won the Naledi Theatre Awards for Best Production, Best Director and Best Script (2017). Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Metaphors, his 2019 play about the Sustainable Development Goals has been prescribed for study by schools falling under the Independent Examination Board in 2021. Van Graan is the 2018 recipient of the Sweden-based Hiroshima Foundation for Peace and Culture Award in recognition of his contribution to the fight against apartheid, to building a post-apartheid society and to the study of the interface between peace and culture both in his home country and across the African continent. Currently, Van Graan coordinates the Sustaining Theatre and Dance (STAND) Foundation and facilitates various programs of the Brussels-based Festival Academy.