YOVANKA 

A BIT ABOUT ME

Yovanka Paquete Perdigão is a Bissau-Guinean writer. Born in Lisbon, Yovanka grew up in Guinea-Bissau until the age of six when a civil war forced her to relocate to Lisbon. She has since lived in Abidjan, Dakar, and London.

Yovanka’s writing has been deeply inspired by her early experiences of conflict. When she returned to Guinea-Bissau after more than twenty years, she became interested in researching Portuguese colonial legacies in Lusophone Africa, discovering the impact across oceans and in her own family. Yovanka has since worked to champion Lusophone African stories as an editor, translator, and formerly as a podcaster on the Not Another Book Podcast.

Yovanka’s writing has been featured in several platforms such as the Johannesburg Review of Books, AFREADA, etc and shortlisted for Penguin 2016 WriteNow,  The Spread the Word’s City of Stories competition and the Miles Morland 2018/19 scholarship.

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WRITING

CM ISSUE 31 : CLIMATE

BAKWA ISSUE 9 
A FAMILY HISTORY IN A PASSPORT

GAL-DEM 
AFRO NATION’S SUCCESS DOESN’T PROVE THAT PORTUGAL ISN’T RACIST

NANSEN MAGAZINE : KALAF EPALANGA

WRITIVISM UNBREAKABLE BOUNDS 

 AMINA

CM ISSUE 30 WEST AFRICA

CM ISSUE 27 : BEAUTY 

 SKIN SHADES

CITY OF STORIES COMPETITION

 CRYING COBALT BLUE

OZY 
THE CASE FOR LUSOPHONE LITERATURE

BUALA
SPEAKING VOLUMES E TERRA CRIOULA

AFREADA 
LETTER TO MARGARIDA

ENGLISH PEN 
WRITING TO NEVER FORGET

JALADA TRANSLATION : THE UPRIGHT REVOLUTION: OR WHY HUMANS WALK UPRIGHT

BRITTLE PAPER 
ICE-BREAKER

FOR HARRIET
DO A LITTLE MORE: A BLACK WOMAN REFLECTS ON GLOBAL CRISIS

EVENTS | NEWS

AFRICAN LITERATURE AT KING’S & BEYOND

African literature and storytelling continues to shine light on established and emergent talent, both on the continent and within the Diaspora. This event will discuss amongst other things what African literature has in store for 2020, the new emerging voices, the new trends and festivals. With African Leadership Centre, Kings alumnus Nancy Adimora and writer Yovanka Paquete Perdigao, come and take part in an engaging discussion on how they have  taken leadership and carved their own path in creating and enabling African voices in the literary space.

MACONDO LITERARY FESTIVAL

A literary festival that will bring together, for the first time on the continent, writers from the Portuguese and English speaking Africa, for conversations, debates, readings on African histories featured in their fictional and non-fictional works

DIASPORA AND I TALK

This talk series explores and discusses creative practices that are influenced by and document diaspora communities. At each talk, we welcome a creative to talk about their practice and how they draw from their diaspora.

Funded by UCL Culture as part of the 'Creating and Finding Voices: the role of community-led archives and oral history in the African diaspora' project. Supported by UCL Department of Information Studies. The Diaspora & I Talk Series is hosted by UCL Institute of Advanced Studies.

AFRICA WRITES 2019

From authors Agostinho Neto, José Eduardo Agualusa to Ondjaki, Angola has produced stellar writers published in Portuguese. Whether you are familiar with Angolan literature or keen to learn, come and explore books written by authors based in Angola and beyond with writer Yovanka Paquete Perdigao and author and musician Kalaf Epalanga. No knowledge of Portuguese is required

NOT ANOTHER BOOK PODCAST IN CONVERSATION WITH IRENOSEN OKOJIE

Join Nigerian-British writer Irenosen Okojie and the co-hosts of Not Another Book Podcast for a bold and honest conversation on Okojie’s experiences as a novelist and short story writer, the joys of storytelling, surreal tales, disrupting narratives and her forthcoming short story collection Nudibranch and novel Curandera.

 SOUTH SUDAN CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP

I led a series of creative writing workshops in Juba, South Sudan as part of the Politics of Return, an AHRC/ESRC grant, exploring the dynamics of return and reintegration of refugees in Central and Eastern Africa.

LAUNCH CRITICAL MUSLIM 30 : WEST AFRICA

Join me and my partner Henry Brefo in the launch panel of the Critical Muslim 30: West Africa at the London School of Economics.

MILES MORLAND

I was delighted to learn that I was shortlisted for the 2018 Miles Morland Scholarship amongst a breadth of amazing writers across Africa.

NOT YOUR AFRICAN CLICHE

Spoke to the ladies of NYAC chat )about Lusophone Africa, its under-representation in African literary spaces and the importance of translation of Afro-lusophone narratives. Have a listen!

BRADFORD FESTIVAL

Hosted by Shanon Shah, who penned the introduction to the issue, this event will bring together writers Samia Rahman, Henry Brefo, Yovanka Paquete Perdigao and Irum Shehreen Ali to discuss objectification, cultural assimilation, the ethics of the Muslim fashion industry, inner beauty, and spirituality in the context of contemporary living.

CITY OF STORIES COMPETITION

I was selected as highly commended for the borough of Lewisham, as part of the City of Stories competition which celebrating London's writers and libraries.

BREAKING GROUND 2017

I was part of the Speaking Volumes' Breaking Ground project in 2017 alongside writers such as Malorie Blackman, Jay Bernard, Leila Aboulela, etc.