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Osofisan releases eight books

Like the characters in his plays, wont to change into other personalities, creatures or roles, eminent dramatist, poet and literary scholar, Prof Femi Osofisan, slipped into his alternate identity, the royal partridge/peacock whose voice rules the skies and the loft of trees, on the eve of the new year and… the king of all singing birds hatched eight golden literary chicks – all in one go!

Perhaps, ‘chicks’ would be a wrong word for fat and meaty progenies that came cackling and flapping their feathers in seeming impatience to fly!

The harmony of their delightful songs and bright plumage of rainbow hues bore the unmistakable DNA of artistry, genius and beauty – all Okinba Launko’s, the pen name Osofisan answers as a poet.

Of course, only someone such as Osofisan, reputed to be Africa’s most prolific playwright, could pull such a feat – release into the book market eight freshly published titles at once.

The new arrivals comprise two poetry collections – ‘Remember Tenderness’ and ‘The Jeweller of the Night’; five plays – ‘Canoes’, ‘Tegonni’, ‘Medaye’, ‘Nkrumah Ni, Africa Ni’, ‘A Nightingale for DuBois’ŕ; and ‘Songs from the Plays of Osofisan compiled and scored in some cases by Tolulope Owoaje.

Of course, some of the works notably ‘Nkrumah Ni Africa Ni’ and ‘Tegonni’ are reincarnation of the old editions given some tweaking. The rest are products of the author’s fresh labour or which were undertaken in the past but only going under the press for the first time.

The two poetry volumes, however, contain both new poems and others drawn from the author’s old and familiar collections.

They are, Osofisan writes in the introduction to ‘The Jeweller of the Night’, part of a series project to commemorate the 36th anniversary of the publication of his first anthology, ‘Minted Coins’, which in 1987 won the very first Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Poetry Prize for Literature and spurred him on to publish five others. They contain, in addition to the new ones, the best of the poems carefully selected from a retrospective survey of his output in this genre of literature so far.

The two volumes’ global theme is love, but this sometimes transcends the romantic, the sensual and even the spiritual, becoming in the poet’s hand a mere decoy with which he addresses the larger socio-political concerns and Nigeria’s troubled history.

Thus, the chamber of personal intimacy turns a metaphor for mirroring topics of public significance and baring the angst of the street, while “sentimental moments become loaded like Ifa verses with oracular wisdom, or banal fun.”

Published by Kraftbooks, ‘Remember Tenderness’ have seven parts: Silk and lilacs; Goddess; Magic; When the tears come; Friendship enduring; Of scars and loss and sea-change; and The wine of healing: remember Tenderness, from which the collection got its name.

The offerings are framed by a prologue and epilogue in which Launko offers invocation in tribute to his Muse as well as supplications for the reader for accompanying him till the end of the poetic excursion.

The language is characteristically simple, lucid and picturesque, painting vivid images and evoking pathos and profound thoughts with its striking style, steeped in deep indigo of African idioms, aphorisms, and spirituality.

‘The Jeweller of the Night’ takes the thematic concerns in its predecessor further and, perhaps, more aggressively, rekindling critical landmarks in the nation’s history, reminding of moments of shared anguish, memorialising dead heroes, colleagues and loved ones, and simply celebrating love for its own sake.

This sequel, published by Mosuro Publishers with an erudite Foreword written by renowned literary critic, Prof Dan Izevbaye, profiles Launko’s journey of literary engagement, especially with the Nigerian society.

It is divided into six parts presented with the usual offer of blessings at the beginning and concluded with same.

Part one, entitled ‘Moonscape’ composed of poems about the poet’s encounters and experiences in many of the cities of the world he has visited. In contrast to the serenity and natural beauty his idyllic homestead, he finds the cities unattractive. The poet celebrates the moon and nature with which he tends to have some bond indicating that he will not give the affinity and peace they give him for the cities with their urban noise, filth, fraud, rat-race, traffic jam, artifice, guile and deception, despite allure of the apparent wealth, glitz, glamour and fun they offer.

Read Also: Femi Osofisan’s ‘Nkrumah ni…Africa ni’Femi Osofisan’s

Under part two, entitled ‘Nightmares of jistory’, are poems such as: ‘A new myth’, ‘Locusts’, ‘Rice’, ‘Those who will not die well’, ‘For ‘Thompson and Irabor’, ‘Blood season’, ‘Freedom song’, Sweet refeain’ and ‘Be the fire’ which run severe commentaries on the ills and state of the nation at different epochs.

Part three, dubbed ‘Requiem’, consists of elegies to among others the renowned social scientist and author of ‘How Europe underdeveloped Africa’, Walter Rodney and other African icons especially in the arts. ‘Remembering Mamman Vatsa’ is a stand-alone tribute containing four poems that traced the tragic execution of the late Major General Vatsa convicted for plotting a coup against his friend, Military President Ibrahim Babangida. Aside exploring issues of amity, animosity and reconciliation within the context of relationships, the poems lament the loss the death of the General, a celebrated poet and author implies to the arts.

Part five named ‘And the plague came calling’, deals exclusively with the Covid-19 outbreak, its devastating effects and lifestyle alterations it brought upon the world. The main poem here is ‘Season of the Unnameable’ with several subtitles such as: ‘Salute’, ‘Song of the cowed’, ‘The widow’, ‘Convening corpses’ and ‘A change of dialects’.

In chapter six, however, Launko offers hope beyond the disillusionment, despair, sadness, angst and gloomy mood and tones that pervaded erstwhile poems. Grouped under this section entitled ‘Renaissance’ are ‘Renewal ‘, ‘We are climbing ‘, ‘New season’, ‘A birthday card’ and ‘Believe’ and other poems.

Making up the tasty poetic sausage filling are ‘Tale in the moonlight’ I and II, two poems inserted as interludes between parts one and two and parts four and five.

One remarkable thing to be said about the poems in these two new collections is the delightful and masterly manner Launko blends the elements of poetry synthesizing the diverse themes and attitudes of different climes and of different verse techniques. He adroitly switches between free verse and formal versification employing abundance of wit and entertainment that sustain the first and the rhythm that makes the latter memorable.

The volumes and the play texts are more than good year-starters for lovers of good literature, considering the signature they bear.

March 6, 2024
We must revive live theatre – Osofisan

As theatre critics gathered in Lagos last week to discuss the fortunes of theatre in Nigeria and across the globe, theatre teacher and playwright of international repute, Professor Femi Osofisan, said it is now time to bring back stage plays and live theatre. Edozie Udeze reports

Part of what defined the just-concluded Lagos Theatre Festival which held at different venues, was the inclusion of the International Association of Theatre Critics conference. Held at the National Theatre, Lagos, it was an opportunity for Theatre Artistes both from the academia and from the streets to hobnob on the critical issues that define art criticisms and what needs to be done to keep the theatre industry on the front burner forever.

In his keynote address, Professor Femi Osofisan, one of Africa’s most prolific playwrights and academic of international repute, described the conference as a worthy exercise, “since it is the first time Africa, and more so, Nigeria is hosting any conference by IATC. It is a big honour. It brings Nigeria to the world map of IATC and for us it is an opportunity to make the best out of it. From what we see and observe by the involvement of the British Council, it shows that theatre criticism faces enormous troubles. It is struggling to survive. This is so because most of the travelling theatre troupes we had before have all died. Why?” He asked with deep concern written on his face.

With artistes from different parts of the world in attendance, Osofisan was deeply worried that the advent of oil played its poignant role in this quagmire. He said further, “All these have died due to oil boom and people left what they should be doing to concentrate on the business of oil. Now it is no more oil boom; it is oil doom. When we had oil boom, people spent money on irrelevant things; it was money stolen from national coffers”. According to Osofisan whose theme drew so much acclaim from the audience, with a situation like this, insecurity set in. The revenue from oil dropped and many people became poor. “Criminality took over the face of the society that people were afraid to stage or go out to the theatre to watch plays. Even travelling theatre could not survive due to lack of funds and patronages and sponsorships. It was at this point that video producers came in, doing films at very reduced and cheap rates. This then took care of live theatre. Theatre began to suffer, even when the films were poorly produced, people made do with whatever that was available to them,” he said.

A renowned theatre artiste reputed for his works on burning social issues, Osofisan equally noted that globalization contributed to the misfortunes of live theatre in Nigeria. His words, “when people sat at home to watch video, live theatre disappeared from the scene. Then globalization helped to kill theatre. On your phone, you can download whatever you like and watch it. You do not need to go to the cinema or theatre to do that. Then the issue of many deadwoods that came up – Yoruba woods, Naija woods, all kinds of woods and so on. All these competed with the theatre that today we find it difficult to resuscitate live theatre. Now we need sponsorships, we need corporate bodies to come to the rescue. But where are they? Have the prosperity churches not taken over the fellowship of the theatre? He asked reflectively.

But theatre must not be allowed to disappear. In an interview with The Nation, Osofisan proffered ways this can be achieved. He said, “I don’t even know what practical steps we can take now to bring theatre back. May be if we collaborate with filmmakers we can make it work better. We cannot draw back the hand of the clock now. We cannot stop digital technology. It is a challenge before all of us. But again how do we mobilise the money to pay the artistes, actors and so on to keep the sector on its feet? This brings us to the issue of funding. But again we need to bring the government back to the issue of the National Endowment for the Arts. It is the kind of fund that the artiste can go through and get money for his works. It has to be in place and also be made to work so that artistes can draw from it. In most developed nations of the world that’s how artistes work and survive,” he said.

In a place like Hong Kong where such an arrangement works, artistes do not find it difficult to work or access funds to move on. He said, “The promise to have the endowment fund has been there but it is time to have it totally in place. Even though the current playwrights deal with social and women issues, the interest to watch live theatre is not yet back. Most of the stories tackle myriad of issues in the society. But if you do it in an empty hall what does that show? Does it encourage the producer or the artiste or the sponsor?”

So basically, Osofisan is worried about the issues writers deal with these days. “The other thing is that theatre is becoming more of a classroom issue where people study more of it. It has to be practical too. Theatre is life more or less. Also we need to develop more theatre institutions to be able to cater for the needs of tomorrow. It is also good to note that cinema houses are growing now. But we have to produce more serious works to keep the audience on the issues that trouble them”.

He also drew attention to the menace posed by piracy. “Oh, yes, piracy is ruining most of the works in circulation. And there is no stiffer penalty for them. I don’t know, we’ve been on this for over twenty years. The laws are too weak. I mean the laws on piracy. If you have stiffer penalties against pirates, I think they’ll relent. The penalties are too cheap and government needs to sit up to save the industry from total collapse. Now you have an industry that provides employment for millions of people, yet government is not safeguarding it from pirates. It is crazy. If we do not do the right things now, the industry may die. The laws have to be strengthened; there have to be more measures against piracies so that we can reap from our labour.”

In her own contribution, Margareta Sorenson, the president of IATC who came all the way from Sweden, commended the level of artistic output in Nigeria. “I am happy we are able to do this now in Nigeria for the first time. Nigeria is our first port of call in Africa after over fifty years of existence. This is so because Nigeria is one of the showcases of theatres, writers, artistes and more in Africa. This is why you are very important to us,” she said.

With the conference theme as Theatre Criticism and Politics, Professor Olu Obafemi, president of Nigerian Academy of Letters, opined that, “it is good to bring theatre critics together for theatre and theatre criticism in Nigeria to thrive the more. It is now time for us to think deeply about criticisms and then look at the performances we have made so far. We have trained young critics to join us today. Over 400 of such people showed interest to be trained, but only 20 scaled through. For us therefore, a theatre critic can be a journalist or an artiste or both. However, this is the time for us to move on fast and achieve more,” he said.

For Professor Sonnie Ododo, the president of Society for Nigerian Theatre Artistes, (SONTA), “it is good that SONTA is fully involved in this. We are happy also that IATC keeps theatre criticisms aglow all over the world. It was SONTA that gave birth to IATC in Nigeria and this is why we have productions year in year out in Nigeria. This has helped to keep theatre alive. It has helped the practice to stay on course. This is why we need to do more henceforth to help the industry stay afloat.”

The two-day conference saw the president of IATC, Nigerian section, Professor Emmanuel Dandaura doing his best to ensure a successful outing. He said, “It took the quick understanding of Sorenson to give the approval on a short notice for Nigeria to host this. The efforts that would have taken me months to accomplish in order to host this conference were made possible by Sorenson. For this, we are grateful. The young critics have learnt a lot through hours of rigorous training and they will now be a part of this group”, he said.

The event was spiced with the wonderful dances displayed by the National Troupe of Nigeria led by Akin Adejuwon. The dances titled Iba, hovered on the many ethnic groups in Nigeria. The dances were also meant for cohesion, love and unity. They indeed opened people’s eyes to the need to use culture to infuse love into the minds of people not only in Nigeria but across the globe.

The opening ceremony was attended by Ben Tomoloju, Arnold Udoka, Makinde Adeniran, Ahmed Yerma, and his wife Bridget, Jahman Anikulapo, many local and foreign artistes who equally savoured the aura and beauty of Nigeria’s rich cultural ensemble.

March 12, 2017
Osundare, Osofisan, Darah, others bid Emecheta farewell

As remains of renowned novelist Buchi Emecheta are buried today in London, some of her colleagues, including celebrated poet Niyi Osundare, iconic dramatist Femi Osofisan and her publisher Margaret Busby bid her farewell in these tributes. EVELYN OSAGIE reports.

She stole the hearts of many through her stories. She put the global spotlight on the plights of the African girl child and woman. Born on July 21, 1944, to the family of Alice Okwuekwuhe Emecheta and Jeremy Nwabudinke from Ibusa, Delta State, celebrated novelist Buchi Emecheta defied all odds to become a seasoned writer. Generations now call her “Mother”.
But sadly, last month, the cruel claws of death found her in her London home at 72. Her remains will be interred today at St Pancras Cemetery, 278 High Road, East Finchley, London N2 9AG. According to the family, the service will take place in the Islington Burial Chapel, which will be followed by the interment at 11:00 am. It was also gathered that a reception will hold by 1:00 pm at The Old White Lion, which is across the road from East Finchley tube station, 121 Great North Road, London N2 0NW.
Even in death, the legacies of the late Emecheta live on. In her lifetime, Emecheta wrote over 20 books, including In the Ditch (1972), Second-Class Citizen (1974), The Bride Price (1976), The Slave Girl (1977), The Joys of Motherhood (1979) and The New Tribe (2000).
As she is being laid to rest today in London, the literati, including celebrated poet Niyi Osundare; her publisher Margaret Busby; iconic dramatist Femi Osofisan, Prof Godini G. Darah and Ghanaian literary scholar and poet Kofi Anyidoho bid their colleague and friend goodbye in this write-up which is second in the series on the late novelist.

The unintended feminist
– Niyi Osundare

The world has just suffered the sad, irreplaceable loss of a woman who willed herself into significance; a writer who literally wrote each work with blood from her veins. Husbandless and with five children at age 22, Buchi Emecheta pressed the abundance of life’s challenges into the richness of art, producing some of the most frequently cited works in contemporary African literature. From The Joys of Motherhood to Second Class Citizen, from The Bride Price to Destination Biafra, her graphically-titled works deal with various aspects of African womanhood, its countless travails and repressed possibilities. Very much in the league of writers like Flora Nwapa, Ama Ata Aidoo, Mariama Ba, and Bessie Head, Emecheta played an un-ignorable role in the gendering of modern African literature and the feminist/womanist theorising which serves as its intellectual correlative.
In “Feminist with a Small “f”!, an article presented at the 1986 Second African Writers’ Conference in Stockholm, Sweden, Emecheta opened the floor with the following sentence: I am just an ordinary writer, an ordinary writer who has to write because if I didn’t write I think I would have to be put in an asylum.(My italics)
And later in that article, she delivers this memorable averment: I write about the little happenings of everyday life. Being a woman and African born, I see things through an African woman’s eyes. I chronicle the little happenings in the lives of the African women I know. I did not know that by doing so I was going to be called feminist. But if I am now a feminist then I am an African feminist with a small f. (My italics)
There goes Buchi Emecheta, the unintended feminist, a stubborn, consistent defender of woman rights who taught the world other ways of looking at gender from the African perspective. A feisty, irrepressible person not known for whispering her objection to objectionable situations, Emecheta was a true ‘natural’ who often spoke from the heart. She was here. And still is. And our world is richer through every moment of her 72 years.

Inspiration to my many students – Ghanaian scholar/poet
Kofi Anyid2oho

Many thanks, Evelyn Osagie, for the opportunity to pay a brief tribute to our sister Buchi Emecheta. Your request, like earlier news of Emecheta’s passing, found me still speechless. Then I thought of what Emecheta’s passing is likely to mean for the now countless students of mine who have found so much inspiration in her words, in the courage of her thoughts. It occurred to me that the greatest tribute I could pay to Emecheta’s memory must be found in the words of some of my students. So when your email reminder came this morning, I was wondering where to begin. Somehow, Kelechi Osigwe steps into my office, all the way from Nigeria, holding a copy of her M.Phil thesis in which she has celebrated Buchi Emecheta, (together with Flora Nwapa and Chimamanda Adichie), for the courage of her thoughts and the abundance of the fruits of her imagination. So let me yield my teacher’s voice to that of Kelechi, yet another discerning student who has found in Emecheta’s works several things that I missed from my many readings of her novels:
“So [she] walked to freedom, with nothing but four babies, her new job, and a box of rags,” (Second Class Citizen, 188).
Emecheta walks to freedom from this world with accolades for her contribution to African Literature – African Women Writing… (Kelechi Osigwe, M.Phil Candidate, University of Ghana, Legon).

Her poignant stories resonate worldwide – Her friend/publisher Margaret Busby

To have been Buchi Emecheta’s editor for more than a decade – the period in which she wrote most of her best-loved and influential books – In the Ditch, Second-Class Citizen, the Bride Price, The Slave Girl, The Joys of Motherhood, Destination Biafra – was indeed rewarding. From the onset, the dedication with which she produced her fledgling works was awesome, given the personal odds she had to overcome, and it became something of a mission for me to help her achieve the readership she so deserved. We bonded perhaps through the fact that we were both young African women taking chances and finding our way in an often challenging literary world (I had become in 1967 “the UK’s youngest and first African woman publisher”). She trusted my editorial judgement, and it was indeed an honour that she dedicated her 1977 novel The Slave Girl: “To Margaret Busby for her believing in me.” Although in recent years her voice had been cruelly silenced by illness, the insightful and poignant stories she brought to life – of Africa and the African Diaspora – still resonate worldwide. What Emecheta achieved is an example and inspiration to us all; she triumphed over inauspicious beginnings to demonstrate the lasting power emanating from the ability to tell an honest story well. Hers was a rags-to-riches tale that everyone now wishes had had a happier ending.

Adieu Buchi Emecheta
– Femi Osofisan

We in the writing community cannot of course but mourn the loss of Buchi Emecheta. But the dirge did not start yesterday. It’s not just because of her death—after all she has left behind a record of outstanding performance, and sufficient offspring to sing her valour. Sadly we have watched, since the passing of Chinua Achebe, and then of Elechi Amadi, the slow and gradual wilting of a season of art and creativity defined mainly by nobility and a superior vision. Emecheta belonged to that generation of writers, now rapidly dwindling, whose lofty minds conceived of art as a grand and holy vocation, a house of healing and dreaming and self-regeneration, a fountainhead of humane values. They are being replaced by the buccaneers of our new mercantile age. That is why the loss is so painful; a further mile away from the golden morning when the artist was priest, prophet and pilot of enlightenment and joy. Emecheta is gone! Goodbye, our grand old Lady of the Pen! When you arrive over there, please be kind to those of us left behind.

A new penumbra of ancestral pantheon – scholar/NOLA president Prof Godini G. Darah

She was in Calabar at the university to mentor students in the humane craft of creativity and criticism. A new penumbra of ancestral pantheon is growing around these writers
and singers of tales, namely: Chinua Achebe, Elechi Amadi, Isidore Okpewho, and now Buchi Emecheta. We of the Nigerian Oral Literature Association (NOLA) will not mourn but mobilise to continuously celebrate them for making our world richer and safer with stories and laughter.

Emecheta was courageous – scholar and writer Prof Kole Omotoso

Margret Busby who published her early novels informed me about it this morning. Sad news. It was known that she had been ill for some time and was not in a position to travel. If there is one writer who suffered in order to write it was Buchi Emecheta. That she succeeded was evidence of her courage and perseverance. May her soul rest in peace.

Her death signals the end of an era – scholar/writer Prof Akachi Ezeigbo

The sad news of the passing away of the renowned novelist, Buchi Emecheta, shocked me beyond words – she died at 72! Though I knew she had been ill for a while, but I had thought she would recover eventually. Her death signals the end of an era – the age that brought recognition and glory to the African feminist literary tradition. Emecheta’s works, especially her magnum opus, The Joys of Motherhood, as well as The Slave Girl, The Bride Price, Destination Biafra, Second Class Citizen, In the Ditch and others, brought international acclaim to African women’s literary production in the late twentieth century. She was a pioneer alongside other iconic writers, such as Flora Nwapa, Ama Ata Aidoo, Bessie Head, and Mariama Ba, to mention just a few. Her voice was one of the first to recreate in fiction the experiences of African women in a very realistic and authentic manner. She was an accomplished writer who won literary awards, was given honorary doctorate degree and who also received the Order of the British Empire (OBE) from the British Monarch, Queen Elizabeth the Second.
The history of African literature in general and Nigerian literature in particular would definitely reserve a prominent position for this celebrated woman of letters who put African literature as well as Black British writing on the global literary map. May her soul rest in peace and may God console her family.

Emecheta’s commitment would be missed – Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) President Denja Abdullahi

Buchi Emecheta orchestrated the birth of the womanist theory and advocacy in the literary space and the domestication of feminism within the ambience of womanism through her works devoted to exploring the place of the female in a highly patriarchal society. A committed writer and a master storyteller, Buchi Emecheta has left a loaded basket of books and literary materials widely recommended and in use in different parts of the world. She alongside Flora Nwapa were the inspirational springs for many of our female writers of the latter generations in Nigeria. In 2002, she was with us at the ANA convention which held in Asaba, Delta State, to facilitate a creative writing workshop for younger writers. A lot of young persons who attended that convention found her to be of immense encouragement to their fledgeling art. Her iconoclastic and firm commitment to living her art through personal example would be missed.

Emecheta took Nigerian women’s fiction to international heights
– Journalist/writer Molara Wood

Long before the rise of the new generation of female writers, Buchi Emecheta trod a lonely path, taking Nigerian women’s fiction to international heights, making herself a household name at home and abroad. She wrote important books on what it meant to be a woman, and what it meant to be in a foreign land. She overcame great odds; her husband burnt her manuscript, yet she persevered, setting a wonderful example for every writer.

February 16, 2017
Osofisan inducted as Thalia laureate

Nigeria’s famous playwright, scholar and literary giant Prof Femi Osofisan has been inducted as the winner of the prestigious Thalia Award by the United Nations Educational Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), global partner in the performing Arts – the International Association of Theatre Critics.

The event, which was attended by over 150 world authorities in theatre criticism from 66 countries took place last week in the German Embassy in Serbia.

The Nigeria Ambassador to Serbia and the German Ambassador to Serbia led the cream of the international community who witnessed the glamourous event.

Osofisan has by the feat become the first African to be so recognised by the respected Thalia Award Committee. The award is a unique professional honour, next only to the Nobel Prize for literature, which Nigeria won in 1986.

Enroute Belgrade to be installed as a Thalia laureate, Osofisan was celebrated by the African continent as one of its leading dramatists at an impressive ceremony in Egypt.

On September 20, Osofisan was honoured as one of the icons of African Theatre at this year’s edition of the Cairo International Festival for Contemporary and Experimental Theatre. This came few months after the Pan African Writers Association honoured him for his contributions to the literary development of the continent.

Osofisan thanked the organisers for the life-changing honour that has shifted global attention to African Theatre and Literature, which he believes has a lot more to offer humanity and the emerging global knowledge economy.

October 5, 2016
Osofisan at 70

•We salute the renowned playwright, actor, critic, poet, novelist, etc.

It is a testimony to his stature that, ahead of his 70th birthday today, Professor Femi Osofisan was early in the year named as the winner of the 2016 Thalia Prize of the International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC).

The honour is a celebration of Osofisan’s contribution to theatre through critical writing. But it also highlights his multi-dimensional devotion to the drama and the stage. As the first African and the first black to win the Thalia Prize, Osofisan has not only made a mark in his field; he has also shown the strength of Nigerian critical practice.

It is noteworthy that the Thalia Prize is meant to reward “the work of those who have helped critics around the globe to understand new ways of seeing and appreciating the performing arts worldwide.” Osofisan is in a luminous class as the 10-year-old prize has been won by UK-born critic, Eric Bentley (2006), Jean-Pierre Sarrazac (2008), Richard Schechner (2010), Kapila Vatsyayan (2012), and Eugenio Barba (2014).

The announcement of his high-profile international award for critical illumination, though related to his role as a playwright, gives an insight into another aspect of his theatre practice. His many-sided cultural activities can be seen from his functions as a playwright, director, actor, theatre manager, critic, poet, novelist, editor, newspaper columnist and public intellectual. His stint as the head of the country’s National Theatre was further evidence of his high rating in cultural circles.

It is a reflection of Osofisan’s internationally acknowledged standing that his nomination for the prize was jointly sponsored by the IATC’s Nigerian and Canadian Centres. The IATC, a UNESCO’s statute ‘B’ partner in theatre criticism, has been in existence for 60 years, and helps to promote international cooperation with its global membership of over 2,000 theatre critics.

The beauty of this award, which will be presented to Osofisan during the IATC Congress in Belgrade later this year, is its focus on elucidation. The critical enterprise plays a constructive role in the interpretation of drama, and it is a huge credit to Osofisan that his critical work is considered significantly interpretative and credited with fresh perspectives.

It is not for nothing that Harvard Professor Biodun Jeyifo described Osofisan as “the most African playwright of the post-colonial era…the most prolific playwright on the African continent…” in a lecture given at the University of Ibadan in 2006. Noted for the African style of his productions, Osofisan’s probably best-known play, Once upon Four Robbers (1991), is taught in many universities around the world and has been widely anthologised.

Notably, Osofisan’s plays demonstrate that he writes with a social conscience, and his critical writings also reflect an unmistakable activism in favour of the downtrodden. A significant feature of his plays is the use of various theatrical resources, and he is usually described as a playwright who does “total drama”.

It is worth mentioning that Osofisan has written over 50 plays and hundreds of critical essays, four novels and five collections of poetry. His creative work attracted international attention following a performance of his 1997 play Many Colours Make the Thunder King at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, U.S.A.

Currently a Distinguished Professor of Theatre Arts at the Kwara State University, Osofisan held various faculty positions at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, where he retired as full professor in 2011. He attended the University of Ibadan and did post-graduate studies at the Sorbonne, Paris.

The founder of CentreStage Africa (the Centre for the Study of Theatre and Alternative Genres of Expression in Africa) and Vice-President of the Pan African Writers’ Association, Osofisan’s work is a remarkable service to culture.

As he becomes a septuagenarian, it is hoped that age would not weaken his cultural capacity.

June 16, 2016
And why are we so blessed? – the uneasy mix of grace and truth in friendship [For Femi Osofisan @ 70]

Eni t’olorun o pa, eda to le paa ko si. FO t’olorun o pa, FO fun’ra e ko le paa! [S/he that has the protection of God, nobody can cause to die before his/her time. FO that has the protection of God, FO himself cannot kill before his allotted time!]
The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of the dusk G.W. F. Hegel

No, I have not suddenly become religious with the ripeness of age. The words in the first of the two epigraphs to this tribute come from an absolutely terrifying experience that I had in what I believe was the very last ride that I took with Femi Osofisan (FO) on a long journey in his car. The time was the early 1980s and we were travelling from Ile-Ife to Benin. For a long time after the start of the journey, I sat completely speechless as my friend broke all speeding records flying through space and time between 130 to 140 km per hour, absolutely without regard to whether or not we were travelling over smooth tar surfaces or broken, pitted patches of dirt road. When I could no longer take this experience in silent terror, I asked my friend in feigned nonchalance so he would not register my fear why he was speeding so recklessly. To my surprise, FO casually said, “you think all this time I haven’t noticed how tense, how fearful you have been? Relax, my friend!” Well, straight talk begets straight talk and so throwing all my pretended nonchalance to the winds, I answered back: “Relax? When you are going to get us killed?”

After that journey, FO went on to have one more child – our Sisi. As a matter of fact, he went to achieve artistic and professional accomplishments that only few writers and academics ever achieve in the course of a lifetime: one of Africa’s preeminent playwrights and a dramatist whose plays are produced and studied in virtually all the continents of the world, both for the delight they give and the light they shed on the human condition in our continent and our world; more than 70 plays, novels, collections of poetry and essays; a much deserved reputation as one of our continent’s foremost theatre scholars, researchers and administrators; and the winner of the Thalia Prize for 2016, arguably the most prestigious prize for theatre scholarship, criticism and theory in the world. Obviously then, we did not perish on that journey to Benin. But it was my last journey in a car driven by FO. For the truth is that, at least at that period in our lives, the man apparently felt in the bone marrow of his Being that he was indestructible! I have the testimonies of other friends and acquaintances to back me up on this idea. For after apparently having had the same kind of experience on long journeys with FO, such friends and acquaintances came to me pleading, “BJ, you are the only one he will listen to; he is going to kill himself and kill others with him as well!” To such people, I would give a forlorn answer, “you think I haven’t tried, you think I haven’t spoken with him on the matter time and time again? He thinks he is indestructible!”

For those who might think that I am exaggerating, that I am blowing things out of proportion for rhetorical purposes in what is after all a tribute, let me say that I am in dead earnest in this matter of FO’s belief at that period of our early adulthood that a special grace from providence was looking out for him and protecting him from the perils of the road and of life itself. At least, that was what I thought initially. For instance, in this same period, in countless travels over all parts of Nigeria as ASUU National President, I survived only one horrible road crash. By contrast, FO survived at least half a dozen more horrific crashes! And what was truly amazing is that in every single instance, he escaped virtually unhurt. Why wouldn’t such a man come to feel that that he had a special access to the inscrutable benevolence of grace from the powers that govern the universe?

But things were a little more complicated, as I eventually found out from the case of his and my confrontation with – high blood pressure! For it turned out that ore ofe, grace, had come to abide with FO not in a simple manner but complexly. Here, I must emphasize that I am publicly telling this particular anecdote for the first time ever in this tribute. This pertains to the time when the combination of our genes and our restless, manic lifestyles began to make us prone to hypertension. After an illness that nearly took me away, I began to very dutifully take my prescribed anti-hypertensive medications in order to stay alive. Again by contrast, for nearly a whole decade, FO completely ignored my desperate pleas with him to pay attention to his high blood pressure crisis. Whenever my endless pleas made him relent a bit, he would take his medications, but for a short period only after which he would discard the pills again with the absurd “explanation” that he could tell by intuition when the high BP was there and when it wasn’t there! On at least two occasions, one of them far away in Sri Lanka, he had violently explosive, migraine-like headaches that required emergency medical treatment. And still to my great despair, my friend remained incredibly nonchalant about his high BP crisis. It took me a long time to gradually fathom the cause of this sublime dalliance with early demise as a sort of semi-conscious fatalism. Both his father and his uncle had died in middle age and apparently, FO felt doomed by the law of genetic inheritance to have the same fate. But he did not have that fate and has lived beyond the age when his father and uncle departed by two decades – and still counting!

I have gone into this lengthy narrative of that period of our young adulthood in order for me to say, quite simply but in great gratitude, that FO and I, we are extremely lucky to be alive today. By the law of averages and the logic of probability, we should have passed on decades ago. This “luck” that is of course more profoundly a matter of grace, is indeed generational. All of our great and dear friends and companions that are still alive today are also incredibly lucky – Kole Omotoso; Yemi Ogunbiyi; Eddie Madunagu; Odia Ofeimun; Ropo Sekoni; John Ohiorhenuan; Niyi Osundare; Niyi Aiyegbayo; Kunle Akanbi; Olu Ademulegun; Siji Adelugba; Tokunbo Dawodu; Olu Obafemi; Bode Lucas; Chima Anyadike and others. We have all lived far beyond our country’s life expectancy rate of 52 years. Moreover, for about half of the time that we have lived, some of us have lived as if we were wired to fulfill that national life expectancy rate of 52 years! We were of course not indestructible; we were only lucky. We were and are the beneficiaries of a grace that we not only did not earn but actually did everything not to deserve.

Here, Hegel’s famous words, as expressed in the second epigraph to this tribute, come to mind. By the owl of Minerva that only spreads its wings and flies at the end of the day, Hegel metaphorically asserts that unhappily, wisdom and insight come to most women and men at the twilight of their lives, too late to have had the chance to shape and transform the course taken by their lives. But going against the grain of Hegel’s thought, I say that if you are still alive if and when wisdom and insight at last come to you, then all is not lost. I’d like to express this idea both playfully and in all seriousness: failing to perish on the roads in the 70s, 80s and early 90s as much as he tried to, FO began to drive carefully by the middle of the 1990s! Similarly, all of us who have lived past that putative, statistical national endpoint of 52 years, from the chastened experience of our years and decades of recklessness and daring, we have much in knowledge and fortifications of the will to leave to those who will come after us!

The ultimate mark of grace is of course the gift of life itself. Not bare, exigent life but life lived in dignity, unburdened by the terrible scourges of poverty, insecurity and abuse by the rich, the powerful, the enemies of all the values that sustain and enrich human life. Bearing in mind all these caveats to the celebration of life itself as a mark of grace, I am immensely grateful for the life of my friend, FO. I say this because it is through his life and the lives of two or three other friends that I came to understand that friendship is a great gift, one of the most precious manifestations of grace that we have as human beings. Blessed immeasurably by the friendships of FO and these other few friends, I have often wondered: Why am I personally and all of us collectively so blessed in and through our friendships?

Grace is of course a part of the answer to this question: in a country and a continent where lack of the simplest but most basic necessities of life is so deep and widespread, we have been lucky, we have been blessed not to be among the ranks of the wretched, the forgotten, the betrayed. But truth is also a part of the answer to the question, perhaps even more portentously so than grace. For FO and I and all these other friends, we have never hidden truth from ourselves, most of all the truth of our divergent and often conflicting perceptions of what needs to be done to extend the “blessings” of our own personal and professional successes to the underprivileged of our society and our common earth. Indeed, of all my friends, FO perhaps stands alone in this fact that he and I are keenly and deeply aware of the truths of where we agree and where we differ on what needs to be done to extend our own “blessings” to all of our peoples and all of the denizens of our planetary home. Here is another way of putting across what I am trying to say here about truth and friendship or more properly, truth in friendship: a true friend is one whom you love and trust so completely that you are sure that everything you have, including your life, is safe with him or her; on another level, a true friend is she or him from whom you never hide the crucial things about which you do not see eye to eye, things indeed on which you may have conflicting differences. Of all my friends living and departed, FO stands alone as the one with whom there is a near perfect balance of these two dimensions of the close, intimate and very uneasy relationship between truth and friendship.

The grace and the truth, they walk together in a friendship that has been one of the most treasured things in my life. So, okunrin ogun, cherished husband, father, grandfather, sibling, cousin and friend to so many to whom your life has been a rich harvest of blessings, take this salute of your friend (and elder!) as I bid you welcome to our midst, those of us who did not die young and hope to live the rest of our days in a land, a world where the blessings will spread all around, boundlessly and bountifully.

Ire o! Ire aiku ti se baale oro!

Biodun Jeyifo bjeyifo@fas.harvard.edu

June 12, 2016
Choose your role models carefully, Osofisan tells youths

Renowned playwright, poet and essayist Prof. Femi Osofisan has advised the youth to always stand for truth, integrity and knowledge, rather than making wrong people their role models.

Osofisan gave the advice at the 2016 World Book Day organised in his honour by the Centre for Educational Media Resource Studies in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

Osofisan, who gave tips on reading, said: “If you read and face your work diligently you do not have to steal.

“Through writing, I have been able to rise and acquire all kinds of honours, meet important people, including heads of states.

“I hope that my case inspires you. I want to advise you to make good people with integrity your role models. You don’t have to steal to make an impact in the society.”

The don read some poems from his collection titled: Minted Coins.

One of the poems, “Yeye Osun”, was dedicated to his wife.

The Dean, Faculty of Education, Prof. Ben Emunemu, who represented the Vice-Chancellor, University of Ibadan, encouraged learners to develop their potentials through reading.

Emunemu said: “Reading is what we cannot do without. It should be a part of our lives. It is key to knowledge.

“If you want to know you must read. Endeavour to read everyday.”

He advised the audience to read contents that would impact them positively rather than dwelling on junk.

In her welcome address, CEMRS Acting Director Fadekemi Oyewusi said: “We are designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to celebrate books, reading, authors, illustrators and people who have to do with books.

“Research has shown us in the last three years that children are reading.

“But the question is what are they reading?”

CEMRS Founder Prof. Adetoun Ogunseye, who presented a plaque to Osofisan, said: “The book will always be with us, no matter what happens.”

Participating schools include Anglican Grammar School, Kutayi; Oke-Ado Comprehensive College; The Concord School, Mokola; The Vale College, Iyaganku and All Joy College, Ibadan.

Others are Pathfinder College, Jericho; the International School and Abadina College, UI; Methodist School, Bodija; Mount Olivet Grammar School, Bodija and Lead City School, Jericho.

March 7, 2016
History as Osofisan wins prize

Renowmed playwright Prof Femi Osofisan has made history as the first black African to win the Thalia Prize for Theatre Criticism. He will be conferred with the award by the International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC) in Septermber, EVELYN OSAGIE reports.

Weeks after Prof Femi Osofisan won the coveted Thalia Prize 2016 for Theatre Critics, the Nigerian literati are still celebrating the feat.

He will get the award from the International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC) in September.

IATC, a United Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO’s) Statute B partner in theatre criticism, is an association of theatre critics, scholars and journalists in over 50 countries. The Thalia Award is the organisation’s highest honour awarded every two years to a scholar, theatre critic, or theatre practitioner whose writings have influenced critical thinking about theatre.

Although the organisation is 60 this year, the prize is only 10 years old. Since it was created, its laureates include Eric Bentley (2006) and Richard Schechner (2010) of the United States, Jean-Pierre Sarrazac (2008) of France, Kapila Vatsyayan (2012) of India, and Eugenio Barba (2014) of Italy.

Osofisan, who is Thalia Prize sixth laureate, has written over 50 plays and has hundreds of critical essays, four novels and five collections of poetry and the subject of several celebratory volumes in his honour. He bagged the prize two years after Nigeria became a member of IATC.

In a statement announcing this year’s winner, former President, Canadian Centre of the IATC, Don Rubin, states that it was the Nigerian and Canadian Centres that nominated Osofisan in the belief that he is immensely deserving of being the first recipient from Africa of the IATC’s Thalia Prize.

Rubin praised Osofisan for changing the way many people in other parts of the world now perceive Africa and African theatre.

“He has led African theatre and drama through both his playwriting and his criticism, through his art, his journalism and his immense scholarship… Words have been his weapon against tyrannies of all sorts. Bringing his name to the whole world through the Thalia is not only appropriate but also a fitting addition to the distinguished names who have preceded him. We welcome Femi Osofisan to the ranks of Thalia laureates,” Rubin states.

Winning the prize, Osofisan said it is, “heart-warming”. “I am happy to win. I was runner-up the year before last. I am happy that I got it this year.”

In the same vein, the Nigerian literary community has expressed excitement over the playwright’s feat.

Some have described the celebrated playwright and critic’s achievements as testament of the resourcefulness of the nation’s intelligentsia. Others say though Osofisan is not new to laurels, winning such a prestigious prize at 70 shows like old wine, the professor’s creative zest grows stronger with age. Excerpts.

President, IATC-Nigeria,

Prof Emmanuel Dandaura

“On behalf of the IATC-Nigeria secretariat, I am happy to inform you that one of our own, Prof Osofisan has been named winner of the coveted Thalia Prize 2016.

“Osofisan becomes the first African and indeed first black to ever win this highly contested award which is coming shortly after I became the first Black and first African member of the executive committee of the IATC in 2014.”

Prof Olu Obafemi, Chairman, IATC

“This is the first time the Thalia Award for theatre critics has been won by a black man and an African. We, on the IATC-Nigeria and the entire practitioners and critics of the theatre of Africa, proudly claim the honour. Osofisan is a worthy laureate of Thalia award which will certainly bring fillip and recognition to Nigerian and African theatre.

“As a friend, I am richly enthused by the honour and I congratulate Femi for an honour most deserved.”

Executive Secretary, National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO),

Dr Barclays Ayakoroma

“Professor Femi Osofisan has again made us proud in winning the 2016 Thalia award. He has always been my mentor. He is a genius. It is just unfortunate that Nigeria does not celebrate her intellectual repositories of knowledge. God no dey sleep.”

President, SONTA, Prof Sunny Ododo

“At the SONTA level, we are very happy and excited because Prof Osofisan is the first Blackman to win that award. As one of our foremost members, the award is an encouragement to other creative artists in our fold to continue to create new works. It is also a reward for consistently working hard.

“IATC, which is the umbrella body of that awards the prize, has some working relationship with SONTA too. In fact, it is SONTA that brought the association to Nigeria. Prof Emmanuel Dandaura is the president of its Nigerian fold.

It is just two years old in Nigeria and we have made this feat. It is also an endorsement and a clear testimony to the resourcefulness of Nigerian theatre critics, playwrights and artistes.

“We can only wish him more creative strength, good health to continue to create as long as he is strong and agile. And we believe we are yet to still see the best of him because he keeps getting better and better. We look forward to more awards and recognitions. And we look forward to other theatre scholars, playwrights and artistes in our fold to also bring enduring and coveted laurels to Nigeria.”

Executive Editor/Director,

The NEWS/PM NEWS, Kunle Ajibade

It attests to the greatness of Prof Osofisan’s gift as a playwright. I’m so happy for him partly because it is a wonderful birthday gift. Whoever is reading this should sing a song for the award winner who loves spicing his plays with songs.

Past President, Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Prof Remi Raji

“The name Femi Osofisan is staple in contemporary African drama; this award is an overdue recognition of his status, achievement and influence in modern drama. He has taken his genius as playwright, poet and director to other countries in Africa, Asia, America and Europe. The Thalia Prize is well deserved.”

Former Member, House of Representatives and past ANA President, Dr Wale Okediran

“Osofisan, easily Nigeria’s foremost theatre practitioner has remained active over the years plying his trade all over the world. His playwright skills, which has taken him to far flung places like China, Thailand, Serbia, among other places, has established him as an international artiste of note. In an era where some critics wrongly believe that literary awards are only the preserve of young writers, it is gladdening to see Prof Osofisan at almost 70 years prove the critics wrong. Apart from raising the bar of literary competitions, Femi Osofisan’s award is a refreshing reminder that the practice of Art is a lifelong career. My hearty congratulations to a teacher, mentor and friend.”

Award-winning novelist and

Professor of English Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi State, Akachi Ezeigbo

“I’m immensely proud of my colleague and friend, Prof Osofisan, for all his achievements. The Thalia Award is a strong affirmation of his greatness as a playwright, dramatist and theatre artist. He deserves the award.”

Executive Producer, Thespian Family Theatre & Productions

“On behalf of THESPIAN Family Theatre & Productions (TFT), I would like to say a big congratulations to Prof Osofisan on being awarded the 2016 prestigious Thalia Prize.

“This is very well deserved. He is an author of very meaningful literature that touches the core of humanity and societal values. This aligns perfectly with our core purpose of ‘impacting the community through the performance arts’ and also informed our choice when we decided to stage two of his plays – the Midnight Hotel and Altine’s Wrath.

“The underlying messages in the plays were so apt for the times and the social – political environment ,that in addition, we organised a special show, book reading and group discussion sessions for students in order to synthesis the key learning from Altine’s Wrath. We were quite pleased that the play made the young ones strongly resolve to uphold a value-based system that showcases the Nigerian as good family and community members, and not corrupt, insensitive and destructive.

“Prof!’ as we at TFT fondly call him, is an icon that we are tremendously proud of. Thank you for making us proud in the Theatre Space and for engrafting a vision of what human and societal coexistence ‘should be’ or ‘should be not’ in the hearts of many!”

Associate Professor of Theatre Arts University of Lagos, Dr Osita C. Ezenwanebe

“Nigeria, congrats to a man who inspires me in the theatre industry. It is an honour well deserved. More grease to your elbow!”

February 10, 2016
Osofisan wins Thalia prize

One of Nigeria’s leading playwrights and author of Once Upon Four Robbers, Prof Femi Osofisan, has won this year’s Thalia Prize of the International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC). He will be honoured at the association’s congress in Belgrade.

The association said it was ‘proud to announce that the 2016 Thalia Prize of the International Association of Theatre Critics will be awarded to Femi Osofisan of Nigeria, a playwright, director, actor, critic, poet, novelist, editor and newspaper columnist”.

The statement reads: “The Thalia Prize is meant to highlight the work of those who have helped critics around the globe to understand new ways of seeing and appreciating the performing arts worldwide. The 2016 Thalia Prize will be presented to the awardee during the IATC Congress in Belgrade.”

January 25, 2016