Feature: Biyi Bandele - playwright and director

Biyi Bandele is a Nigerian author, playwright and theatre director, whose latest offering is a film adaptation, which he also directed, of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's powerful, prize-winning novel, 'Half Of A Yellow Sun'. The film stars Thandie Newton, Oscar-nominated actor Chiwetel Ejiofor ('Twelve Years a Slave') and Anika Noni Rose, and tells the story of two sisters caught up in the indignities and atrocities suffered during the Nigerian Civil War. Bandele's own writing has been lauded for providing a voice to previously-unheard Africans. He grew up in Nigeria, before moving to London aged 23. 'Half Of A Yellow Sun' opens in New Zealand cinemas on April 24.