POETRY SUBMISSION TO CELEBRATE THE NIYI OSUNDARE @ 70

Gardener of Words, Warrior of Lights: A Special Publication in Honour of Niyi Osundare

Niyi Osundare, internationally acclaimed and multiple award-winning Nigerian poet and essayist, was born on March 12, 1947. He was educated at the Universities of Ibadan, Leeds and York. His importance for African poetry, earlier noted in his Songs of the Marketplace and Village Voices, became more established with the publication of The Eye of the Earth, winner of the Commonwealth Poetry Prize in 1986, the same year that Wole Soyinka became the first African winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. 

Osundare is one of the most celebrated living Nigerian poets today, serving as poetry mentor, judge and motivator to individuals, institutions, literary groups and organisations all over the world. He taught for many years in Nigeria’s premier varsity, the University of Ibadan, where he served as Chair of the Department of English from 1993 to 1997. Osundare is currently Distinguished Professor of English, at the University of New Orleans, USA, and Honorary Professor-at-Large, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

IBPF, in collaboration with the University of Ibadan, is putting together a collection of poems to celebrate Niyi Osundare, unique gardener of words, man of letters, on his seventieth birthday.

This is an open call to all, to submit original poems which celebrate and reflect the vision and values of Niyi Osundare. Interested contributors are invited to send in a maximum number of three poems, including a brief biodata of not more than 150 words.

Please send submissions to ibadanpoetryfoundation@gmail.com, copy a.rajioyelade@ui.edu.ng

Deadline of submission: October 10, 2016

Remi Raji
Jumoke Verissimo
Emman Egya Sule