Poetry Reading with Windsor Youth Poet Laureate: Chidera Ikewibe

Chidera Ikewibe or CHI.IKE is an Igbo Nigerian Canadian born artist and poet whose work often combines her experiences and cultural identity. Her works often incorporate NSIBIDI — an ideographic/pictographic writing system from the south-eastern region of Nigeria. Chidera is also the Youth Poet Laureate for the city of Windsor. When she is not making art she can be found listening to Kendrick Lamar, Kojey Radical, Fela Kuti and FKA Twigs who she cites as poetic inspirations. Her interests span from Third Cinema to African Anarchism and Anti-colonial movements.

As an artist and community-builder, Chidera’s areas of interest are race and ethnicity, Anti-Black racism, institutional decolonization, poetry as performance, spoken-word radio, Black Diaspora, playwriting, mask making, and mixed media. She is pursuing her Bachelor of Arts (BA) in psychology and BA in English and creative writing at the University of Windsor.

The Youth Laureate program is supported by the City of Windsor.