MEET OUR PANELISTS - JP CLARK: THE RESONANCE OF A WRITER’S SONGS – 4TH OF DECEMBER 2020
PROF. FEMI OSOFISAN (CHAIRMAN, ANA ADVISORY COUNCIL AND FORMER ANA PRESIDENT)
Femi Osofisan is one of the foremost dramatists in Africa. Femi Osofisan has had a distinguished career in the academy. He is Emeritus Professor of Drama, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He is a Theatre Director, Actor, Critic, Poet, Novelist, Editor and Newspaper Columnist. Osofisan has written and produced more than sixty plays, five volumes of poetry, four novels and several collections of essays. Osofisan has won several other awards, including 1st Western Nigeria Broadcasting Service [WNBS] Prize for Independence Anniversary Essay, the first Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Literature award in 1983 for Morountodun and Other Plays and later for Drama with Yungba-Yungba and the Dance Contest in 1993. Minted Coins, a collection of poetry written under the pseudonym Okinba Launko, won the ANA Poetry Prize and the Regional Commonwealth Poetry Award for First Collection in 1987. In 2000, he was short-listed for the prestigious Neustadt Prize in the USA. He has been honoured with Officier de l’Ordre Nationale de Mérite, Rép. de France (1999); Nigerian National Order of Merit in the Humanities [NNOM] (2004); Fonlon-Nichols Prize for Literature and the Struggle for Human Rights (2006); and Fellow, Nigerian Academy of the Arts [FNAL] (2006). Osofisan was also a Drama Consultant to the Second World Festival of Black and African Arts and Culture (Festac ’77), the Cultural Olympiad, 1996 Olympic Games, Atlanta, and Movement for Mass Mobilization, Social and Economic Recovery (MAMSER), Abuja, Nigeria (1989). He was also the President of ANA (1988-1990) and PEN, Nigeria (2004-2010), and one time General Manager and Chief Executive of the National Theatre, Lagos, Nigeria. Osofisan’s plays have been performed in many countries, where he has also held teaching or research fellowships, including Japan, Sri Lanka, Ghana, Lesotho, China, USA, Canada, UK, France, South Africa; his plays are among the most produced in Nigeria. Femi Osofisan is a founding member and Literary Editor of the first Editorial Board of The Guardian, Lagos (1983-84); Founder and Artistic Director, Kakaun Sela Kompani (1979) and CentreSTAGE-Africa [the Centre for Studies in Theatre and Alternative Genres of Expression in Africa, a non-governmental trusteeship organisation]; and Founder and Editor of Opon Ifa, a poetry chap-book (1974), which later became Opon Ifa Review, a quarterly journal of the arts, primarily for creative writing.
PROF. OLU OBAFEMI (FORMER ANA PRESIDENT)
Prof. Olu Obafemi began writing seriously as an undergraduate student at the Ahmadu Bello University, and also was the editor of a literary magazine. His first play, Pestle on the Mortar, was produced in 1974 and also broadcast by the Kaduna Broadcasting Corporation. He has published a number of plays, among them Nights of a Mystical Beast and The New Dawn in 1986 and Suicide Syndrome and Naira Has No Gender in 1993.
The first of these employs mythological devices to address the social problems confronting post-independence Nigeria, while the second looks forward to finding solution. His works all reflect the social consciousness and activist tendencies that have characterized the writings of the generation of writers and scholars who came to the fore in Nigeria in the 1980s. His writing, according to him, has been an exploration of the question, \”Why should the society be organized in such a way that so many people can be suffering while a few have so much to waste?\”
Although his works have been performed in Britain as well as in Nigeria, he writes primarily for Nigerians, seeking not to denounce those responsible for the country\’s privations but to explore ways to correct the problems. Although he considers himself a dramatist, he has also published a volume of poems. Songs of Hope. Two of its poems being included in the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) syllabus.
His scholarly works include Nigerian Writers on the Nigerian Civil War (1992), and Contemporary Nigerian Theatre: Cultural Heritage and Social Vision (1996). He also edited New Introduction to Literature (1994), and, in collaboration with Wole Oguodele and Femi Abodunrin, Character Is Beauty: Redefining Yoruba Culture & Identity (2001), Character is beauty: redefining Yoruba culture & identity 1981-1996, Contemporary Nigerian theatre: Cultural heritage and social vision (2009), Dark times are over? (a topical drama) (2005).
Humble, simple but firm as a principled man, many of his students regard him as a great mentor and an eloquent speaker, Prof. Obafemi made the study of literature exciting. He would start each author’s work with his biography, creating a nexus between the text, the writer or the context.
He held the office of the Chairman of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Kwara State, and in 2004 he became the National President of the Association. He was also a Director of Research at the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), a former President of the Association of Nigerian Authors and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, he is the president of the Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL).
In October 2018, the Governing Board of the Nigerian National Merit Award (NNMA) declared Prof. Olufemi Obafemi, as its sole recipient of the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM) in the Humanities for 2018.
DR. WALE OKEDIRAN (FORMER ANA PRESIDENT AND THE CURRENT SECRETARY GENERAL OF PAWA)
Wale Okediran is the current Secretary General of the Pan African Writers Association (PAWA). He attended the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife) where he qualified in April 1980 as a Medical doctor.
After working in a number of government and private hospitals for a number of years, he went into private medical practice in 1987 by establishing the Cornerstone Medical Centre in Ibadan. He remained in active private practice until 1999 when he went into active politics and was appointed Chairman, Oyo State North Hospitals Management Board. He remained in this position until 2003 when he contested for a seat in the Federal House of Representatives, Abuja where he represented his constituency from Oyo state from 2004 till 2007.
His writing career started way back in his secondary school where he was an active member of the school’s press club and debating society. At the University of Ife, he edited a campus newspaper, Rip Off”. He has published till date twelve novels out of which nine are adult fiction and three are for children. Many of the books are on the reading lists of several Nigerian Universities such as the University of Lagos, University of Ibadan, University of Agriculture Abeokuta, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nasarawa State University and University of Maiduguri among others.
In his positions as the National Treasurer, General Secretary and later National President of the Association of Nigerian Authors, he contributed in no mean measure to the development of Literature in Nigeria through the establishments of ANA branches, organisation of Literary Seminars, Conferences and Publications.
In June 2010, together with a few friends, he established the first Writers Resort in Nigeria ;The Ebedi International Writers Resort in Iseyin, Oyo State. The Ebedi International Writers Residency is a private initiative for writers to complete their ongoing works in a conducive environment at no cost. Since its inception, in 2012, the facility has hosted more than 100 writers from 10 different African countries. It also offers publishing opportunities to its Fellows through an arrangement with one of Nigeria’s foremost publishing outfit, the Literamed Publishers, Oregun Lagos.
He is currently a Consultant to the National Assembly in charge of the Senate Committee on Health and the House Committee on HIV, Malaria and TB.
His Publications include:
Rainbows Are For Lovers (Spectrum Books 1987)
The Boys At The Border (Spectrum Books 1991). Shortlist for the 1992 Commonwealth
Literature Prize.
Storms of Passion (Evans, 1995)
The Rescue of Uncle Babs (Mcmillan, 1998) Winner of the 1999 ANA/Matatu Prize for Children’s Literature.
Ten novellettes on the HIV/AIDS theme (Longman, 2001)
Sighs of Desire (Caltop, 2002)
Dreams Die At Twilight (Malthouse ,2002) Longlist for the 2004 NLNG Literature Prize. The
book was also adjudged as one of the 25 best books in Nigeria in the last 25 years by Spectrum Books in 2004.
Strange Encounters (Heinemann PLC, 2004) Winner of the 2005 ANA Prize for fiction.
After The Flood (Longman Nig Ltd, 2005)
The Weaving Looms (Kraft Books 2005) Shortlist for the 2008 Wole Soyinka Prize For African Literature.
The Riot And Other Stories (Mosuro Books, 2006)
Tenants Of The House (Nelson Books, 2009) Co-Winner of the 2010 Wole Soyinka Prize for African Literature.
Madagali (Evans PLC, 2020).
His collaborative works include, Human Rights Educational Book for Children (Amnesty Int, Nig 1995) and Encyclopedia of Post Colonial Literature in English (Routledge,11 New Fetter Lane, London)
PROF. REMI RAJI (FORMER ANA PRESIDENT)
REMI RAJI is the pen name of Aderemi Raji-Oyelade, Nigerian poet, scholar, literary organiser, and cultural activist. His first collection of poems – A Harvest of Laughters (1997) – has won national and international recognition. A Salzburg Fellow and visiting professor and writer to a number of institutions including Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, Universities of California at Riverside and Irvine, University of Cape Town, South Africa, and Cambridge University, UK., Raji’s scholarly essays have appeared in journals including Research in African Literatures and African Literature Today. He has read his poems widely in Africa, Europe and America. In 2005, he served as the Guest Writer to the City of Stockholm, Sweden. His other volumes of poetry include Webs of Remembrance (2001, rpt. 2003), Shuttlesongs America: A Poetic Guided Tour (2003), and Lovesong for my Wasteland (2005). Raji’s works have been translated into French, German, Catalan, Swedish, Ukrainian, and Latvian. He has been an Alexander von Humboldt Scholar to Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany. He currently teaches Literature and Creative Writing in the Department of English, University of Ibadan.
PROF. AKACHI ADIMORA-EZEIGBO
Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo was born and raised in Eastern Nigeria. She is the first child of Joshua and Christiana Adimora and has five siblings. Raised partially in a rural environment and partially in the city, she combines these two factors, as background and setting for her children’s stories and adult fiction. Though born in Eastern Nigeria, she has lived in different parts of the country – East, North and West. She has travelled extensively in Africa, Europe and in the USA.
She obtained her Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Masters (MA) degrees in English from the University of Lagos and her Ph. D from University of Ibadan, in Nigeria. She also has a Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) from University of Lagos.
A lecturer, writer, novelist, critic, essayist, journalist, and administrator, she was appointed a professor of English at University of Lagos in 1999. She has taught in this university, in the Department of English, since 1981. She headed the English Department in 1997 and 1998, from 2002-2005, and 2008-2009.
In September 2015, Prof Ezeigbo relocated to Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo, Ebonyi State, in South-East Nigeria, where she has continued to teach students and mentor younger lecturers.
Some of her publications are: Rhythms of Life: Stories of Modern Nigeria – short stories (1992), The Last of the Strong Ones – novel (1996), Rituals and Departures – short stories (1999), House of Symbols – novel (2001), Children of the Eagle – novel (2002), My Cousin Sammy (2007), Heart Songs – poems (2009), Waiting for Dawn – poems (2010), Roses and Bullets – novel (2011).
PROF. SAM UKALA
Sam Ukala is a Nigerian playwright, poet, short story writer, actor, theatre director, film producer and academic. Currently Professor of Theatre Arts and Drama at Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria. Ukala has also been Professor of Drama and Theatre Arts at a number of Nigerian universities, including Edo State University. In 1993/94, as an academic staff fellow, he also researched and taught at the School of English Workshop Theatre of the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom. As an academic, he propounded the theory of 'folkism', the tendency to base literary plays on indigenous history and culture and to compose and perform them in accordance with the aesthetics of African folktale composition and performance. He is currently Chairman of the Delta State Chapter of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA).
Ukala's published plays include The Slave Wife, The Log in Your Eye, Akpakaland (winner of the 1989 ANA/British Council Prize for Drama), and Break a Boil. His "Iredi War", a 'folk-script', won the 2014 Nigeria prize for Literature. It is based on the 1906 uprising of the Owa Kingdom (now part of Delta State) against oppressive British rule. As in previous pieces, he utilises and brings new life to oral literature and folk-based theatre forms. "A convincing blend of history and fiction..." Kester Echenim.
Ukala has also worked with the British theatre Horse and Bamboo Theatre in 1999 and with Bob Frith wrote the visual theatre piece Harvest of Ghosts, which toured the UK and the Netherlands. This was an experimental piece for Ukala, which relied on dance, music, and powerful visuals rather than the spoken word. Ukala is also a poet, prose fiction writer, and a screenwriter.
PROF. SUNDAY ENESSI ODODO (FORMER ANA VICE PRESIDENT)
Sunday (Sunnie) Enessi Ododo is a Professor of Performance Aesthetics and Theatre Technology in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri, Nigeria. His scholarly work has gained considerable attention, especially his ‘Facekuerade theory’, which derives from the maskless transformational practices of traditional Ebira masquerades (eku).
He has also edited reputable journals like, Alore: Ilorin Journal of the Humanities, The Performer: Ilorin Journal of the Performing Arts, Sino-US English Teaching Journal and US-China Foreign Language Journal. He is also a Consultant to World Scenography Research Project. A good number of his essays have been published in journals in the USA, the UK, Japan, India, Netherlands, Germany and Nigeria, etc. He also co-edited Larger than his Frame: Critical Studies and Reflections on Olu Obafemi (2000) and Technical Theatre Practice in Nigeria: Trends and Issues (2006), with Professor Duro Oni.
There are other edited works to his credit. He is on the editorial board of The Perfformio, a University of Wales online journal for the performing arts (http://perfformio.org/default.aspx); and the Editorial Board of David Publishing Company, Libertyville, Illinois, USA. He is the pioneer Editor of Scene Dock: Journal of Theatre Design and Technology, and currently also serves on the board of four other journals in Nigeria.
Ododo remains a valued and respected icon in literary and theatre circles. His play, Hard Choice, further brought him to literary limelight as a gifted playwright as he won the prestigious ANA Drama Prize in 2012. Apart from being a theatre scholar, screenwriter, actor, poet and technical theatre practitioner in his highly fecund career of about three decades, he is reputed to be the exponent of the Facekuerade theory in African Theatre Studies. Beyond these, Ododo is a distinguished and versatile creative artist, who has made modest contributions to the growth of literature and creative writing in Nigeria through his activities in the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), where he has served as Chief Judge of literary prizes and national Vice President. He also served as one of the Vice Presidents of the Society of Nigeria Theatre Artists (SONTA), before becoming its 8th President; and he made innovative and outstanding contributions to the Society in two terms in office, which ended on 2nd November, 2017.
PROF. MABEL ITOHANOSA ERIOYUNVWEN EVWIERHOMA
Mabel Itohanosa Erioyunvwen Evwierhoma is a Nigerian academic. She is Professor of Theatre Arts at the University of Abuja. She specializes in dramatic theory, criticism, gender studies and cultural studies.
Mabel Evwierhoma was born to Peter Omoviroro Tobrise and Theodora Tobrise, née Aiwerioghene. She attended Abadina Primary School from 1970 to 1975;, and the Federal Government Girls College, Bauchi from 1976 to 1981. She gained her Higher School Certificate in 1983 from Federal School of Arts and Science, Suleja. She proceeded to the University of Ibadan, gaining a BA in Theatre Arts in 1986 and an MA in 1988. From 1989 to 1990 she was a tutorial assistant at the University of Ibadan before joining the University of Abuja in 1990 as an assistant lecturer. She gained her PhD in 1996, and was promoted full Professor in 2005.
A festschrift for Evwierhoma was published in 2015. She delivered an inaugural professorial lecture at the University of Abuja, 'Mother is gold', on 21 January 2016. In 2019 she was one of three candidates shortlisted for the position of vice chancellor of the University of Abuja.
In June 2020 Evwierhoma delivered a lecture 'Rape as Anti-culture in Contemporary Nigeria', calling for cultural resistance and constitutional provisions against rape.
Some of her works include: Out of hiding: poems. Ibadan: Sam Bookman Publishers, 2001, Female empowerment and dramatic creativity in Nigeria. Ibadan, Nigeria: Caltop Publications, 2002, (ed, with Gbemisola Adeoti) After the Nobel Prize : reflections on African literature, governance, and development. Lagos, Nigeria: Association of Nigerian Authors, 2006, Nigerian feminist theatre : essays on female axes in contemporary Nigerian drama, 2014, (ed. with Methuselah Jeremiah) Snapshots of the female ethos : essays on women in drama and culture of Africa. Lagos, Nigeria : Concept Publications Limited, 2015.
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