Nakhane is a South African writer, singer, songwriter, and actor. Having grown up among a Christian community in Port Elizabeth, at 15 they moved to Johannesburg, leaving the church in 2013, publicly celebrating their queerness with their debut album Brave Confusion.

In 2015, Nakhane’s debut novel Piggy Boy’s Blues was published, set in their hometowns of Alice and Port Elizabeth and portraying a Xhosa royal family. It was nominated for the Barry Ronge Fiction Prize and the Etisalat Prize for Fiction. They found both controversy and critical acclaim with their starring role in John Trengove’s 2017 feature film Inxeba (The Wound), which they won four acting awards for (FIPRESCI award for Best Actor in a foreign film, South African Film and Television Awards, Durban International Film Festival, Valencia International Film Festival Cinema Jove).

Nakhane relocated to London to record and release 2018’s heavily autobiographical album You Will Not Die. They have contributed to Jalada Africa Literary Journal, Exhale, an anthology of African queer erotica. Their writing has appeared in AnotherMan Magazine, Notion, and they have been a freelance arts writer for New Frame and Arts24.

In 2020, they appeared in Travis Fine’s film, Two Eyes and award-winning writer/director debbie tucker green’s latest feature project, Ear for Eye, based on debbie’s play of the same name. Nakhane is currently developing and writing a number of TV and film projects.