ANA congratulates Professor Ahmed Parker Yerima and Professor Isidore Okeawolam Diala on NAL Fellowship Conferment

 

ANA CONGRATULATES PROFESSOR AHMED PARKER YERIMA AND PROFESSOR ISIDORE OKEAWOLAM DIALA ON NAL FELLOWSHIP CONFERMENT

 

By: Wole Adedoyin (ANA PRO South)

 

 ANA President, Camillus Ukah has congratulated Professor Ahmed Parker Yerima and Professor Isidore Okeawolam Diala on the conferment of Fellowship status of the Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL) on them.

 

The Fellowship Status of NAL is given rarely to distinguished professors after a rigorous election exercise.

 

Professor Ahmed Parker Yerima and Professor Isidore Okeawolam Diala were recently admitted into the prestigious Fellowship of the Academy on the basis of their outstanding contributions to scholarship and extension of the frontiers of knowledge in their various subfields of the Humanities.

 

The Fellows of the Nigerian Academy of Letters are a group of distinguished scholars of the humanities, nominated and elected in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the humanistic scholarship.

 

According to ANA President, “On behalf of ANA members across the country, I congratulate Professor Ahmed Parker Yerima and Professor Isidore Okeawolam Diala on the conferment of Fellowship status of the Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL) on them.

 

Your meritorious contributions to scholarship and extension of the frontiers of knowledge in your various subfields of the Humanities undoubtedly earned both of you your promotion to the enviable rank of NAL Fellowship status.

 

The entire members of ANA congratulate Professor Ahmed Parker Yerima and Professor Isidore Okeawolam Diala on your successes. Your new status as NAL Fellows is another milestone in your success stories. You are definitely going to attain new heights with lot of more successes”

 

The Nigerian Academy of Letters is a national academy and apex body of arts and literature in Nigeria. It is an autonomous, scholarly and non-political state institution for advancing scholarship and public interest in the humanities at the highest level in Nigeria. Established in 1974 after recommendation of "Udoji report of 1974" it is currently governed by executive committee of distinguished professors and promote limited number of four types of fellows; Foundation Fellows, Regular Fellows, Overseas Fellows and Honorary Fellows on a yearly basis.

Ahmed Parker Yerima (born 8 May 1957) is a Nigerian academic, professor playwright and theater director. He was director-general of the Nigerian National Theatre, and has previously served as director of the National Troupe. He is a professor of Theater and Performing Arts and has been dean of the College of Humanities, Redeemer's University since 2013.

Though Yerima wrote on different genres of literature but most of his works are historical plays. Prominent among these are plays include The Trials of Oba Ovonramwen, Attahiru, Ameh Oboni the Great, The Angel, The Twist, Uncle Venyil, The Bishop and the Soul, The Wives, The Mirror Cracks, The Lottery Ticket, Kaffir's Last Game, The Sisters, Mojagbe, Little Drops, Heart of Stone, Yemoja, Orisa Ibeji, Otaelo, and Hard Ground.

Professor Dr. Isidore Diala Prof. Diala holds a B.A (Hons.) in English and Literary Studies from Imo State University Etiti (now: Abia State University, Uturu) Nigeria, and an M.A in the same field from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. His Ph.D. thesis on the fiction of the South African novelist, Andre Brink, was also written at the University of Ibadan. Beginning his university teaching career at Abia State University Uturu, Diala is currently Professor of African literature in the Department of English, Imo State University, Owerri, Nigeria. A Humboldt Research Fellow in the Department of English, University of Münster (affiliated to the Chair of English, Postcolonial and Media Studies) from November 2010-April 2012, Diala was also a Visiting Research Fellow, Centre of African Studies, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom from October 2005 to March 2006. He is currently engaged in a book-length study of the drama of the Nigerian playwright, Esiaba Irobi (1960-2010) titled “Esiaba Irobi’s Drama and the Postcolony: Theory and Practice of Postcolonial Performance” as well as an edited volume of essays on African drama in honour of Esiaba Irobi.

Apart from scholarly work, Diala has also published award-winning creative writing. His play, The Pyre, was joint-winner of the Association of Nigerian Writers’ Drama Prize in 1992 and his poetry volume, The Lure of Ash, was the winner of the Association of Nigerian Writers’/ Cadbury Poetry Prize in 1998. His publications Include Edited Volumes “Nigerian Literature: Triumphs and Travails.” Tydiskrif vir Letterkunde: A Journal for African Literature 48.1 (2011).

The Responsible Critic: Essays on African Literature in Honor of Professor Ben Obumselu. Ed. Isidore Diala. New Jersey: Africa World Press, 2006. Selected Essays “De/Stabilising the European Classic: Sycorax, Irobi’s. The Tempest.” Shakespeare in Southern Africa (Forthcoming). “Esiaba Irobi’s Legacy: The Theory and Practice of Postcolonial Performance.”

Research in African Literatures (2011): 20-38. “Migrating Bards: Writers’ Burdens and a Writers’ Body in Nigeria at the Turn of the Century.” Tydskrif vir Letterkunde 45.2 (2008):133-148.