Bio

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

Etaghene wrote and acted in two one-woman shows: Volcano’s Birthright{s} and GUAVA. She has published four chapbooks of poetry. In 2015, she was awarded the Joseph Henry Jackson Award in short story fiction. Yvonne is the author of For Sizakele, (RedBone Press, 2015) a novel that addresses transcontinental identity, intimate partner violence, queer gender, and how we love as illuminators of who we are. She has been published in several anthologies including Queer Africa 2: New Stories and Walking the Tightrope: Poetry and Prose By LGBTQ Writers From Africa, a short story and poetry respectively. Her work is also featured in various literary journals, including Gumbo Magazine, Kalyani and Q-zine. She is a mixed media visual artist whose artwork has been featured in four solo art exhibitions in New York and California.

Yvonne is the founder of Ankara Queen by Yv. Etaghene, a fashion line grounded in Nigerian aesthetics where she designs everyday fashion and couture pieces that provide space for a plethora of gender expressions while honoring and reimagining traditional Nigerian styles.

Etaghene received her Bachelors from Oberlin College in African American Studies and her Masters Degree from New York University; her thesis was titled “TELL THE TRUTH: Articulating A Queer African Diaspora.” She is the host of the NIGERIAN DYKE REALNESS Podcast. She has performed in Nigeria, Brasil, South Africa, Canada, Britain and in the United States.

Get your copy of For Sizakele here.

How To Pronounce My Name

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I teach audiences to pronounce my name every night. I love that @lupitanyongo posted a vid of how to pronounce her name. 💕@WarsanShire's words are so precious and on point: "give your daughters difficult names. give your daughters names that command the full use of tongue. my name makes you want to tell me the truth. my name doesn’t allow me to trust anyone that cannot pronounce it right." #AfricanNames #noshortcuts #learnhowtosayitright #therealmwc2014 #Vancouver

A post shared by yv. etaghene (@myloveisaverb) on Jan 31, 2014 at 10:30am PST