BUALA

A Bissau-Guinean writer and editor based in London. Born in Lisbon and raised in Ivory Coast and Senegal, her work is inspired by her experiences as a child refugee. Her poetry has been published in Brittle Paper, her translations in Jalada and her writing in the Guardian. Yovanka’s work was shortlisted for Penguin’s WriteNow competition in 2016 and she is currently working on a historical novel on a Luso-Ghanaian family whose roots trace back to the colonial massacre of Batepá in São Tomé and Príncipe.  When she is not writing, she is translating, editing or managing communications for London’s largest African literary festival, Africa Writes.