Kelly-Eve Koopman is a writer, filmmaker and artivist whose work explores identity, history, ecology and social change across literature, film and collaborative creative practice. She is the author of the memoir Because I Couldn’t Kill You (2018), longlisted for the Sunday Times Literary Awards, and co-curator of the acclaimed LGBTQIA+ anthology They Called Me Queer. Her screen work includes co-writing Death of a Whistleblower, winner of the 2026 SAFTA for Best Picture, and co-producing the multi-award-winning documentary The Philipstown WireCar Grand Prix. She was a writing fellow at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study and is an alumna of the Realness AuthenticA Series Lab, where she developed a television series that was presented at Series Mania in Lille, France as well as an alumna of the Atlantic Fellowship for Racial Equity.
Kelly-Eve completed her MA in Creative Writing at the University of the Western Cape in 2025 with distinction and was named to the Dean’s List. Her first speculative fiction novel, developed through her MA creative thesis with support from a writing fellowship at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study (JIAS), explores questions of hydrofeminism, polycrisis and the ocean. She is currently continuing the development of the novel.
