Sexual Freedom is Extravaganza!
A celebration of the richness, diversity and boldness of African sexuality and identity.
Sankofa:
African Sexualities and Traditions from a Feminist Lens
Benin 28-29 Nov
Join us in Benin for Extravaganza! 2026, the latest edition of the Sexual Freedom Festival—an African feminist-led convening that brings together artists, organisers, queer communities, healers, storytellers, researchers and movement builders from across the continent and beyond.
Sexual Freedom needs Sankofa
A purposeful feminist return to African traditions that honour our humanity, dignity and liberation.
Every edition of the Sexual Freedom Festival is guided by a theme that responds to the questions, possibilities and conversations shaping our collective moment.
For Extravaganza! 2026 we turn to Sankofa, an Akan principle that reminds us that we must return to what has come before in order to move forward with greater wisdom.
Through the theme African Sexualities and Traditions from a Feminist Lens, we invite participants to revisit African histories, cultural practices and ways of knowing with curiosity, care and critical reflection. Together, we'll explore what can be reclaimed, what deserves to be questioned and how ancestral knowledge can inform more expansive conversations about sexuality, pleasure, embodiment and collective liberation today.
Rather than looking to the past with nostalgia, Sankofa encourages us to engage our histories as living sources of knowledge that can inspire more just, joyful and liberated futures.
This year's theme will come to life through the people we gather with, the conversations we share and the experiences we create together throughout Extravaganza! 2026.
Why we gather
Connect
Meet African feminists, artists, organisers and movement builders from across the continent.
Learn
Explore sexuality, pleasure and collective liberation through workshops, dialogue and creative practice.
Create
Engage with storytelling, performance, art and embodied experiences that invite new ways of knowing.
Restore
Experience spaces for reflection, care, healing and meaningful connection.
Some conversations and experiences can only happen when we gather.
Extravaganza! 2026 is an invitation to step into a space where ideas are explored collectively, creativity becomes a way of learning, and relationships are nurtured through care, curiosity and shared experience.
Over two days in Benin, you'll join African feminists, queer communities, artists, organisers, healers, storytellers, researchers and movement builders from across the continent and beyond to engage with this year's theme through dialogue, creative practice and collective reflection.
Whether you're seeking fresh perspectives, meaningful connections, opportunities for collaboration or simply space to pause and reconnect with yourself and others, Extravaganza! 2026 offers an environment where learning, imagination and community unfold together.
Because some of the most transformative moments are not only found in formal sessions, but in the conversations between them, the relationships that continue afterwards and the collective futures we begin imagining together.
Every gathering is shaped by the people who participate in it. Here's what you can look forward to experiencing throughout Extravaganza! 2026.
What You’ll Experience
Thought-Provoking Conversations
Engage in dialogue that explores African sexualities, traditions and feminist futures through diverse perspectives, lived experiences and collective inquiry.
Creative Practice & Performance
Experience performances, artistic expression and creative practices that invite reflection, storytelling and new ways of imagining ourselves and our communities.
Healing & Embodiment
Take part in spaces that nurture rest, wellbeing and collective care through embodied practices, reflection and healing.
Workshops & Collaborative Learning
Join participatory sessions where knowledge is created through dialogue, exchange and shared exploration rather than one-way teaching.
Community & Connection
Meet people from across Africa and beyond, build meaningful relationships and discover opportunities for collaboration that continue long after the festival ends.
No two festival experiences are the same. Alongside the programme, some of the most memorable moments emerge through unexpected conversations, shared meals, creative encounters and the simple act of gathering with others committed to more liberated futures.
Meet the working group
The Extravaganza! 2026 Working Group brings together African feminists, organisers, creatives and movement builders who are stewarding this year's festival with care, collaboration and a shared commitment to African feminist values.
Meet the people helping bring Extravaganza! 2026: Sankofa to life.
Nana
Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah is the author of Seeking Sexual Freedom: African Rites, Rituals, and Sankofa in the Bedroom. Her debut, The Sex Lives of African Women, was an instant classic, lauded by Publishers Weekly as “an astonishing report on the quest for sexual liberation” and named a Best Book of the Year by The Economist.
Famia
Famia Nkansa is a feminist writer, social commentator and communications consultant who loves to think and talk about identity, gender, desire, sexuality, belonging and other frou-frou shit. Her prose and poetry have been published in journals and anthologies around the world.
Chido
Chido Muparutsa is a Zimbabwean-born queer muse, facilitator, writer, and care steward whose work weaves together African feminist praxis, healing justice, ritual, oral storytelling, and collective care.
Olivia
Olivia Shola is a leading human rights advocate in West Africa, particularly for transgender women engaged in sex work. A transgender woman, queer feminist and activist, she combines over fifteen years of activism with a strong academic background, holding a Master’s degree (Master II) in Public Service Management and a Bachelor’s degree in Archival Studies, both obtained from ENAM.
Oswaldo
Oswaldo Zohoun Kenan is a Beninese human rights defender, community leader, and entrepreneur committed to promoting inclusion, diversity, and human dignity.
Doris
Doris Odoi is an African feminist advocating for justice for all marginalized people. They are currently the Co-Director of Drama Queens, a pan-African feminist collective that uses art to center "herstories" in a world that seeks to erase them.
While this Working Group is coordinating Extravaganza! 2026, the Sexual Freedom Festival is made possible through the contributions of many artists, facilitators, partners, volunteers and community members whose participation continues to shape and strengthen the movement.
We look forward to welcoming you to Benin this November.
Athenee
Abdoulaye M.R. Pallas-Athenee is a multidisciplinary professional advocate, whose work sits at the intersection of administration, project coordination, communications, and social impact.
Meet this year’s facilitators
This year’s facilitators bring together knowledge keepers, creatives and movement builders who are creating spaces for collective learning and dialoguerooted in African feminist values.
Meet the people guiding conversations, sharing knowledge and nurturing collective possibilities.
Abigail
Abigail Arunga is a writer, author (Akello, A Side of Raunch, The Mysteries of Jabali and Sauti, Siri ya Mwezi) editor, columnist, moderator, scriptwriter, influencer, publicist, poet, copywriter, bookstore owner, quizmaster, podcaster, and MC. She’s passionate about the arts, pop culture, current affairs, and social justice. Abigail is invested in how to sleep more, anti-capitalism, virulent feminism, and good fiction.
Anaïs
Anaïs Alachede is a clinical sexologist and sex therapist based in Paris. She works on sexual health, intimate relationships, and supports individuals and couples. She is the author of the book Impact des cultures des femmes afrodescendantes sur leur vie affective et sexuelle (The Impact of Afro-descendant Women’s Cultures on Their Emotional and Sexual Lives), published in 2024
Araba
Araba Ofori-Acquah is a healer, community builder, DJ and award-winning author working at the intersection of wellness, collective care and creative expression. She is co-founder of Transit, a cultural organisation building a sustainable ecosystem for house music creatives in Ghana, including the country's first month-long house music festival.
Awa
Awa Fall-Diop is a Senegalese Pan-African feminist and social justice activist. In 1997, Awa Fall-Diop founded the Observatory of Gender Relations in Senegal (ORGENS) to promote gender equality within the country’s education system.
Dame
Dame Sadie is known as the pleasure missionary. A somatic sensualists who's life goal is to help others access the healing potential of pleasure. Dame is a certified Somatic Sex Educator and Sexological Bodyworker. In her offerings she intertwines mindfulness and meditation, crystal healing, and other energy work, with 20 years experience in the erotic arts.
While this Working Group is coordinating Extravaganza! 2026, the Sexual Freedom Festival is made possible through the contributions of many artists, facilitators, partners, volunteers and community members whose participation continues to shape and strengthen the movement.
We look forward to welcoming you to Benin this November.
Ibanda
Kisa is a community development practitioner currently working with queer communities within the African context to imagine and practice freedom on their own terms. Rooted in community knowledge, care, and resistance, his work supports people to articulate what dignity, pleasure, and safety mean in their everyday lives.
Jasmine
Jet Setting Jasmine is a licensed psychotherapist, sex educator, and internationally recognized speaker whose work centers pleasure, sexual health, and liberation. She is the founder of Blue Pearl Therapy and co-owner of Royal Fetish Films, where she integrates clinical expertise with cultural storytelling and sex-positive media.
Kadidiatou
Dr Kadidiatou Tarpaka is a Burkinabè international lawyer, feminist researcher, facilitator and queer feminist activist. Her work sits at the intersection of human rights, gender and sexuality, feminist movements, and the politics of power and resistance in Africa.
King
King Noire is an accomplished and award-winning writer, porn performer, artist, Master Fetish Trainer, MC and global activist using the proceeds of his album ‘Music Is My Weapon’ to build a school, fresh water well and medical clinic in Guinea Bissau, West Africa.
Mafoya
Mafoya (Merveille Christora M. M. Glèlè Kakai) is a Beninese visual artist, poet, and podcaster. A descendant of King Glèlè of the Kingdom of Danxomè, her work engages in an intimate dialogue with women, goddesses, and the memories of the kingdom.
Arnie
Arnie Bonney is an intersectional documentary filmmaker and creative producer whose work spans film, photography, and media. Their practice centres the experiences of women, girls and marginalized communities, using visual storytelling as a tool for advocacy, representation and deeper engagement with lived experiences.
Lylie
Miss Lylie is a Black LBQ feminist activist, writer, and co-author of the anthology À celles qui s’aiment II (To Those Who Love Each Other II). A national of Côte d’Ivoire, she has dedicated more than eight years to social justice and women’s empowerment,
Moh
Abdul-Wadud Mohammed (Moh) (He/They) is a Berlin-based researcher, human rights advocate, and community organizer working at the intersections of sexual health, harm reduction, LGBTQ+ rights and politics. .
Nakashwa
Nakashwa Julia Hango is a Spiritual Therapist, Tantric Coach, Reiki Master, and embodied guide of pleasure, presence, and power. Their work weaves together Tantra, energy healing, ritual, and somatic movement to create spaces where people can reconnect to their bodies, their truth, and their aliveness.
Nsharâh
Nsharâh challenges the idea that intimacy is something you simply figure out. For him, the
ability to be with yourself and others authentically, honestly, and courageously is a practice,
one that matters just as much as your career and your ambitions. This relationship
Pamm
Pamm Takyiwaa is a feminist communications and programmes specialist with over a decade of experience building movements, amplifying marginalised voices, and designing community-centred programmes across Ghana.
Rebekah
Rebekah Mate-Kole Rampe is a queer Ghanaian feminist community builder and cultural curator. At the heart of her work is a commitment to creating spaces where marginalised communities can connect, heal, organise, and experience joy.
Ria
A cat that wears many hats, Ria Boss (also known as Cat Mama) is most well known for being a powerhouse musician, visual artist, songwriter and passionate performer. She is also deeply rooted in community having co-founded the live performance showcase and open mic platform “Ria Boss Open Mic”, and also serving as the Creative Lead and Programs Facilitator for Black Girls Glow.
Rita
Rita Nketiah is an African feminist committed to personal and collective liberation. A former working group member of the Adventures Live Festival, she brings a deep belief in pleasure, storytelling, and community as pathways to freedom.
Solange
After 20 years of queer activism and advocacy, Solange is now pursuing a career as a writer. Writing under the name Lady S, she has published three books with the Ivorian publishing house Saint Graal.
Sunga
Sunga Konji is a pleasure advocate and educator who uses rope and body to facilitate conversations around intimacy and sensual expression. With over 12 years of experience, his photography, workshops, performance work and rope sessions with private clients are centered around but not limited to the Black experience and the empowerment of Afro-descendants across the globe.
Tshegofatso
Tshegofatso Senne (they/them) is a Black, chronically-ill, genderqueer community worker, facilitator and sangoma who does the most. Their work lives in the sacred space between intuition and memory, body and spirit.
Fam
Famia Nkansa is a feminist writer, social commentator and communications consultant who loves to think and talk about identity, gender, desire, sexuality, belonging and other frou-frou shit. Her prose and poetry have been published in journals and anthologies around the world.
Who can attend
Extravaganza! 2026 welcomes African feminists, queer communities, artists, organisers, healers, storytellers, researchers, cultural practitioners and movement builders, as well as anyone committed to exploring sexuality, pleasure, collective care and liberation through an African feminist lens.
Whether you're attending for the first time or returning to the festival community, you'll find opportunities to learn, connect and contribute throughout the convening.
Registration
Registration information, ticket details and practical updates will be shared here as they become available.
We encourage you to register early and check this page regularly for announcements about the programme, travel information and other festival updates.
Everyone's journey into the Sexual Freedom Festival is different. Whether you're attending this year's convening or following the movement from afar, there's a place for you in this community.