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.​

Essays, Articles & Reviews

Critical Muslim — Issue 31: Climate

Bakwa Magazine — A Family History in a Passport

gal-dem — Afro Nation's Success 

Critical Muslim— Issue 30: West Africa

Critical Muslim— Issue 27: Beauty Skin Shades

OZY — The Case for Lusophone Literature

Buala — Speaking Volumes e Terra Crioula

English PEN — Writing to Never Forget

For Harriet — Do a Little More:

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Translations

Nansen Magazine — Kalaf Epalanga

Jalada Africa — The Upright Revolution:

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Creative Writing

City of Stories Competition — Crying Cobalt Blue

Writivism — Unbreakable Bounds

Afreada — Letter to Margarida

Brittle paper —Ice-Breaker

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