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Portrait of Yvonne Fly Onakeme Etaghene

Yvonne Fly Onakeme Etaghene

Poetry, Fiction, Playwriting, Performance Art, Fashion · Dyke, Lesbian · Nigerian

About

Nigerian poet, novelist, performance artist, educator, and activist best known for centering queer African love, identity, and liberation through literature, multidisciplinary performance, and community-based arts practice.

Biography

Yvonne Onakeme Etaghene, also professionally known as Yvonne Fly Onakeme Etaghene, is an Ijaw and Urhobo Nigerian poet, novelist, performance artist, playwright, visual artist, educator, filmmaker, fashion designer, and activist. She publicly describes herself as a "Nigerian dyke poet," and her multidisciplinary practice explores queer African identity, migration, gender, healing, memory, and radical self-expression. Through poetry, fiction, visual art, fashion, and performance, Etaghene creates spaces for storytelling that center Black queer lives and community resilience.

Etaghene is the author of For Sizakele, a novel exploring queer African love, transcontinental identity, intimate partner violence, and healing. She has also published poetry collections and chapbooks including I DO METAPHORS, skin into verse, and tongue twisted transcontinental sista. Her one-woman performances, including GUAVA and Volcano’s Birthright{s}, combine spoken word, dance, theatre, and multimedia to examine African queer identity and belonging. She founded Sugarcane, an LGBTQ+ BIPOC writing workshop inspired by June Jordan’s Poetry for the People, and established OyinT. Designs by Yv. Etaghene, a fashion initiative exploring Nigerian aesthetics, gender expression, and self-acceptance.

A recipient of the Joseph Henry Jackson Award in short story fiction, Etaghene has exhibited visual art internationally, served as a poet-in-residence, and continues to mentor emerging writers and artists. Across every medium, her work challenges stereotypes about African queer communities while celebrating vulnerability, joy, love, and liberation as acts of creative resistance.

Notable Works

  • For Sizakele (2015)

    Novel exploring queer African love, transcontinental identity, intimate partner violence, and healing through the lives of African women.

  • I DO METAPHORS 

    Poetry collection examining vulnerability, identity, grief, joy, and liberation through deeply personal and political verse.

  • Sugarcane 

    Founded an LGBTQ+ BIPOC writing workshop centered on African, Indigenous, Asian, Latinx, immigrant, and diasporic writers.

  • GUAVA 

    One-woman performance blending poetry, storytelling, dance, and multimedia to explore queer African identity and belonging.

  • OyinT. Designs by Yv. Etaghene 

    Fashion initiative celebrating Nigerian aesthetics, gender expression, and self-acceptance through contemporary design.

Recognitions

  • Joseph Henry Jackson Award in Short Story Fiction: 2015, Winner

  • Svane Family Foundation Inaugural Artist, Headlands Center for the Arts Bay Area Fellowship: 2021–2023

  • Creative West BIPOC Artist Fund: 2023, Awardee

  • UC Berkeley Poetry for the People Program: Poet-in-Residence, 2019

Learn More

BQW Impact

Yvonne Onakeme Etaghene has expanded the landscape of Black queer arts and literature by centering African lesbian and queer experiences that have historically been overlooked in mainstream publishing and the arts. Through fiction, poetry, theatre, education, fashion, and community organizing, she has created platforms where Black LGBTQ+ voices can tell their own stories on their own terms. Her work demonstrates how artistic practice can function simultaneously as cultural preservation, political resistance, healing, and community building, making her an important voice within Black queer feminist and diasporic cultural movements.

Profile details

  • Fields: Literature, Art
  • Roles: Poetry, Fiction, Playwriting, Performance Art, Fashion
  • Gender Identity: Woman
  • LGBTQ Identity: Dyke, Lesbian
  • Nationality: Nigerian
  • Ethnicity: Ijaw, Urhobo
  • Topics: Spoken Word, Queer Literature

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