Bio

Yvonne Onakeme Etaghene is an Ijaw Urhobo Nigerian dyke poet, performer, author, dancer, playwright, visual artist and fashion designer.

Etaghene has presented her visual art in solo and group visual art exhibitions and established a fashion line called OyinT. Designs by Yv. Etaghene, which explores the relationship between Nigerian aesthetics, gender expression, and self-acceptance. Yvonne hosts the NIGERIAN DYKE REALNESS Podcast, a space where she discusses mental health, art, and politics as it relates to and impacts African queer women and gender nonconforming people.

In 2012, Etaghene founded Sugarcane, an LGBTQ+ BIPOC writing workshop series that centers LGBTQ+ African, Latin/o, Indigenous, Asian, immigrant and immigrant- descendant literary and performative voices. The eight-week curriculum culminates in a community showcase.

Her writing has been published in journals, anthologies and poetry chapbooks. Her latest collection of poetry, I DO METAPHORS, is a passionate, brave, unflinching exploration of the most vulnerable and powerful parts of us. Yvonne is the author of For Sizakele, a novel that addresses African lesbian/bisexual identity, love, intimate partner violence, and gender.

Etaghene created Healing Is A Creative Practice (HCP) which supports those who desire to incorporate art into their activism, activism into their art and people who seek to use creativity as a tool for healing. HCP interweaves art, activism, and healing with the intention of providing specific tools/resources for individuals, organizations and collectives to more effectively engage their communities. How? HCP works with clients to design programming and/or community engagement methods that address the issues that matter most to those communities. Healing cannot be an afterthought when a lack of healing is at the root of so many of our issues locally and globally.

From 2021 to 2023, Etaghene was a Svane Family Foundation Inaugural Artist in Headlands Center for the Arts’ Bay Area Fellowship Program.  In 2023, she was honored as a Creative West (formerly WESTAF) BIPOC Artist Fund Awardee. Etaghene received a B.A. from Oberlin College, a Master’s degree from New York University, and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Antioch University, Los Angeles. 

EMERGENCY CONTACT, a film directed, written by and starring Yvonne Onakeme Etaghene, explores grief as horror, and premiered in 2024 as part of the International Queer Women of Color Film Festival. Her film, READY FOR WAR, debuted in June 2025 at the International Queer Women of Color Film Festival, a film that is a Nigerian artist’s survival guide sent back in time to her past self, to heal her through her worst heartaches.  

Get your copy of For Sizakele here.

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