Stéphanie Melyon-Reinette - also known as Nèfta Poetry (as poet and artist) is a performance artist, dancer-choreographer, cultural activist, independent academic and, above all, researcher.
As such, her work - both artistic and social science - explores the sociologies of the French Caribbean and the Americas. She has published several collections of poetry (Les Bleus de l'Existence, L'Harmattan, 2009; Ombres, Éditions Persée, 2011 and Mousmée, self-published, 2015) and is preparing her next opus.
She has contributed to the Haitian journal of Creole culture DOKRE.I.S for 3 editions and has been a member of the jury for the BALISAILLES international poetry competition (in French and Creole) since 2022. As a performer, she has developed a series of experiments or performative experiences, some of which have been presented in her exhibitions, such as Toloman at the Czong Institute for Contemporary Art (June 2023) in Gimpo, South Korea.
As an activist, she has been the curator of the Cri de Femmes festival for 12 years, and as a sociologist, she has been the author of several essays and collective books since 2009. Her work focuses on black bodies in performance, Afro-diasporic/black music and dance, gender and sexuality studies, masculinity, migration and identity, Caribbean/Haitianity and more. She was awarded the Bridget Jones Travel Award 2023 by the Society for Caribbean Studies (London) at De Monfort University, Leicester (July 2023).