Chinaka Hodge

Chinaka Hodge
Hodge in 2014
Born1984 or 1985 (age 39–40)[1]
Oakland, California, U.S.
EducationNew York University
University of Southern California (MFA)
Occupations
  • Poet
  • educator
  • playwright
  • screenwriter

Chinaka Hodge (born 1984)[1] is an American poet, educator, playwright and screenwriter. She has received national recognition for her publications, especially her artistic work on gentrification.

Biography

Chinaka Hodge was born in Oakland, California and lived in various neighborhoods of the city throughout the course of her childhood.[2] In May 2006, Hodge graduated from NYU's Gallatin School of Individualized Study, and was honored to be the student speaker at the 174th Commencement exercise. Four years later, Chinaka received USC's Annenberg Fellowship to continue her studies at its School of Cinematic Arts. She received her MFA in Writing for Film and TV in 2012. In the fall of that year, she was awarded the SF Foundation's Phelan Literary Award for emerging Bay Area talent.[citation needed]

Hodge was also a 2012 Artist in Residence at The Headlands Center for the Arts in Marin, CA. In January 2013, Hodge was a Sundance Feature Film lab Fellow for her script, "700th&Int'l."[3] In June 2013 she began as a first-year fellow at Cave Canem’s summer retreat.[4]

Hodge is in a longterm partnership with McLeod Bethel-Thompson, a gridiron football quarterback most notably with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League.[5]

Work and publications

Since 2005, Hodge has worked in various capacities at Youth Speaks/The Living Word Project, a San Francisco-based literary arts non-profit. During her tenure there, she served as Program Director, Associate Artistic Director, and worked directly with Youth Speaks’ core population as a teaching artist and poet mentor.[6][3]

She has acted in comparable capacities in New York and Los Angeles at Urban Word NYC and Get Lit: Words Ignite. Her poems, editorials, interviews and prose have been featured in Newsweek, San Francisco Magazine, Believer Magazine, PBS, NPR, CNN, C-Span, and in two seasons of HBO’s Def Poetry. In 2013 and 2014, she was featured in two of Watsky's music videos as a guest rapper and writer.[7][8] She is also the author of the book Dated Emcees (City Lights, 2016), a collection of poetry about urban hip-hop.[9]

In April 2021, Hodge had been hired as the head writer on the upcoming Marvel Studios streaming series Ironheart for Disney+.[10]

Music

Hodge is a founding member, along with Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal, of a collaborative hip hop ensemble, The Getback.[11]

Plays

Poetry collections

  • For Girls with Hips: Collected Poems and Writings (2006)[14]
  • Dated Emcees (2016)

Filmography

Year Title Credited as Notes
Writer Actor
2004 Def Poetry No Yes
2011 Miles Away Yes No
2012 The Dream Share Project No Yes Johnson State College documentary[15]
2013 Kill a Hipster Yes Yes Song by Watsky, guest rapper and writer
2014 Exquisite Corpse Yes Yes Song by Watsky, guest rapper and writer
2020 Amazing Stories Yes No Wrote: "The Heat", also executive story editor
2020 Snowpiercer Yes No Teleplay: "Justice Never Boarded", also staff writer
2022 The Midnight Club Yes No Co-wrote: "Witch", also co-producer
2025 Ironheart Yes No Head writer, upcoming Disney+ miniseries. Wrote: the pilot and the finale[16]

References

  1. ^ a b c Hurwitt, Robert (March 3, 2010). "Theater review: 'Mirrors in Every Corner'". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  2. ^ Hodge, Chinaka (May 30, 2014). "The Gentrifier's Guide to Getting Along". San Francisco Magazine Online. San Francisco Magazine. Archived from the original on January 9, 2018. Retrieved October 24, 2015.
  3. ^ a b c Saux, Frances (June 27, 2016). "Chinaka Hodge releases 'Dated Emcees'". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on 2016-06-27. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  4. ^ "Chinaka Hodge Author Bio". City Lights Booksellers and Publishers. City Lights Publishers. Retrieved October 26, 2015.
  5. ^ @chinakahodge (8 March 2020). "Loving this #IWD2020 feed from @TorontoArgos. Inspiring to see these boatmen speak life into their partners and fam…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  6. ^ Bautista, Lisa. "19th Annual Youth Speaks Poetry Slam Press Release" (PDF). Youth Speaks. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  7. ^ dtruong (March 29, 2013). "From Slam Poet To Rapper, Watsky Exhibits Authentic Growth". The Oswegonian. Archived from the original on 2013-11-22. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  8. ^ Granovsky, Brooke (August 30, 2016). "x Infinity". The Justice. Archived from the original on 2016-08-31. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  9. ^ "Dated Emcees Description". City Lights Booksellers and Publishers. City Lights Publishers. Retrieved November 2, 2015.
  10. ^ "'Ironheart': Marvel-Disney Plus Series Sets Chinaka Hodge as Head Writer (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. 27 April 2021. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
  11. ^ Clark, Leilani (May 8, 2016). "Chinaka Hodge Shines a Piercing Light on Life in Hip-Hop with 'Dated Emcees'". Retrieved April 4, 2019.
  12. ^ Hurwitt, Robert (May 13, 2014). "'Chasing Mehserle' review: A search for justice". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on 2014-05-14. Retrieved August 11, 2014.
  13. ^ Meline, Gabe (April 30, 2021). "Chinaka Hodge Named Head Writer for Disney's 'Ironheart'". KQED. Archived from the original on 2021-04-30. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  14. ^ "POET & PLAYWRIGHT, CHINAKA HODGE: WRITING THE WORDS TO CHANGE THE WORLD". 18 June 2012. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  15. ^ Little, Justin (October 6, 2012). "The magic of dreaming big". Basement Medicine. Archived from the original on 2021-04-18. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  16. ^ "Ironheart - WGA Directory". Writers Guild of America West.