I Do Metaphors

Yvonne Onakeme Etaghene is an Ijaw and Urhobo Nigerian dyke poet, performer, author, dancer, playwright, visual artist, filmmaker, and fashion designer. 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. 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 2015, she was awarded the Joseph Henry Jackson Award in short story fiction for her manuscript, From May to October. Her writing has been published in journals, anthologies and poetry chapbooks including: afrocrown: fierce poetry (2000), write or die (2004), tongue twisted transcontinental sista (2006), skin into verse (2014) and skin into verse: a remix (2021). 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. 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 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 premieres in 2024. EVERYTHING: www.myloveisaverb.com FASHION: www.oyintdesigns.com PODCAST: www.nigeriandykerealness.com