Ogaga Ifowodo

Ogaga Ifowodo
Born (1966-05-14)May 14, 1966
Oleh, Delta State
Nationality Nigerian
Education University of Benin, Cornell University
Occupation Writer, poet, journalist
Home town Oleh, Delta

Ogaga Ifowodo (born May 14, 1966) is a Nigerian lawyer, scholar, poet, columnist/public commentator and rights activist. He was awarded the 1998 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, given to writers "anywhere in the world who have fought courageously in the face of adversity for the right to freedom of expression.[1]

Biography

Ifowodo was born in Oleh, Delta State of Nigeria. He attended Federal Government College, Warri, for his secondary education. He studied law at the University of Benin (Nigeria) from where he obtained an LL.B in 1989. He was called to the bar in 1991 and has worked for many years as a human rights activist with Nigeria's Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO).[2] He also holds the Master of Fine Art (MFA) in poetry, and a PhD in English (post-colonial literary/cultural studies) from Cornell University, New York.[3]

He has taught poetry and literature at Texas State University, San Marcos.[4] His work has been translated into German, Dutch, Romanian, Turkish and Italian.

Work as a columnist

Ifowodo is a well-known poet and writer. He has published op-ed articles in virtually all of Nigeria's major newspapers. He wrote the fortnightly column "For Crying Out LOUD!" in Vanguard until July 2016.[5] He has also published four books of poetry and his poems have been widely published in several anthologies and literary journals across the world, including Voices from all Over: Poems with Notes and Activities, The Times Literary Supplement, Poetry International, The Massachusetts Review, Crazyhorse, The Dalhousie Review, Atlanta Review, Mantis, Drumvoices Revue, and Migrations (an Afro-Italian anthology selected by Wole Soyinka for the Lagos Black Heritage Festival).

Arrest and detention

In 1997, while returning from a Commonwealth Heads of Governments Summit in Edinburgh, Scotland, Ifowodo was arrested by the military regime of Sani Abacha regime for calling for stronger sanctions against the dictatorship.[6] He was incarcerated, along other human rights activists, writers, and journalists, including his friends and writer Akin Adesokan and Babafemi Ojudu.[7][8] He was never tried nor released until 1998, following sustained campaigns by Nigerian and international human writers and writer organisations. He was awarded the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, the Free World Award of the Netherlands-based Poets of All Nations and adopted as an honorary member of the PEN Centres of Germany, USA, and Canada.

Excerpts from his detention memoirs have been published in Gathering Seaweed: African Prison Writing (Heinemann), in New Writing 14 (Granta), in Nigeria's Vanguard newspaper, and on African-Writing.com.[9]

Attempt at politics

In 2014, Ifowodo returned to Nigeria from the United States where he had done postgraduate studies and taught for thirteen years. He sought the nomination of the All Progressive Party for a seat in the House of Representatives but, hampered by inadequate financial resources, did not get past the primaries. He had tried unsuccessfully to raise 57 million naira for the bid[10] which turned out to be unsuccessful.[11]

Collections of poetry

Homeland and Other Poems

Ifowodo's first collection of poems, Homeland and Other Poems was published in 1998 by Kraft Books;[12] a second edition was published in 2008 by Africa World Press[13] It is 69 pages long, a collection "largely written in (and bordering on) the military era of Nigeria... describing the despicable situation of the Nigerian society during the period in question."[14] As a manuscript, it won the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Poetry Prize in 1993.[15][16]

Madiba

Ifowodo's second collection was titled Madiba and was published by Africa World Press. It is 90 pages long.[17] In it, Ifowodo "captures the angst, the failed hopes and the glaring despair of this generation." The collection won the ANA/Cadbury poetry prize in 2003.[18]

The Oil Lamp

Ifowodo's third collection, The Oil Lamp, was published by Africa World Press in 2005.[19][20] It was described as "a deliberate intervention in the Niger Delta debate".[21] "The poems bemoan the ecological devastation and pillage of the Niger Delta region, and express bitter criticism, lamentation and condemnation of the activities of such agents of pollution as the Nigerian Government, the multinational oil companies doing business in the area, and their regional agents such as political leaders, traditional rulers and other local representatives."[22]

It won the 2005 ANA/Gabriel Okara Poetry Prize.[23]

A Good Mourning

In 2016, Ifowodo released his fourth collection of poetry titled A Good Mourning (Parrésia Publishers). It is a work containing 26 poems over 78 pages.

It was hailed as "a work of "entrancing quality," with a "familiar strangeness... The authenticity of the voice and the resonance that dot every line, are the stuff great and enduring poetry is made of."[24]

A Good Mourning, the author says, is his poetic reflection on "the intimacy of evil",[25][26][27] particularly the devastating blow to the psyche of the people caused by the annulment of the June 12, 1993 elections[28] "by General Ibrahim Babangida, a military dictator."[29]

In July 2017, A Good Mourning was longlisted for the Nigeria Prize for Literature, along with ten other works by Nigerian authors.[30][31][32] In August of the same year, it was shortlisted, along with Tanure Ojaide's Songs of Myself and Ikeogu Oke's The Heresiad.[33] The Prize, valued at $100,000 was won by Oke.[34]

Awards and fellowships

  • Honorary membership of the PEN Centres of USA, Germany, Canada.
  • PEN USA Barbara Goldsmith Freedom-to-Write Award (2008).
  • New Word Award of Poets of All Nations based in the Netherlands.
  • The Iowa Writing Programme (fellow).
  • Heinrich Böll Foundation (Honorary fellow).
  • The PEN Centres of the USA.
  • The ANA/Gabriel Okara Poetry Prize (2005)
  • The ANA/Cadbury poetry prize (2003).
  • Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Prize for Poetry (1996)

References

  1. ↑ "PEN – Barbara Goldsmith". www.barbaragoldsmith.com. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  2. ↑ "Ogaga Ifowodo – PEN America". PEN America. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  3. ↑ "Ogaga Ifowodo". www.nigeriavillagesquare.com. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  4. ↑ "An Interview with Writer-Professor, Dr. Ogaga Ifowodo – SYNCHRONIZED CHAOS". synchchaos.com. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  5. ↑ "For Crying Out Loud Archives – Page 2 of 7 – Vanguard News". Vanguard News. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  6. ↑ "Ogaga Ifowodo – PEN America". PEN America. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  7. ↑ "Ogaga Ifowodo: Slipping a Stone in the Sling of Prose and Poetry - AfricanWriter.com". AfricanWriter.com. January 19, 2016. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  8. ↑ "A Witness to these Times...The Akin Adesokan Interview - AfricanWriter.com". AfricanWriter.com. May 6, 2007. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  9. ↑ "African Writing; Essays; Ogaga Ifowodo; The Travel Commissar". www.african-writing.com. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  10. ↑ "US-based university teacher, Ogaga Ifowodo, shops for N57m for election campaign, writes 350 Nigerians – Premium Times Nigeria". Premium Times Nigeria. October 21, 2014. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  11. ↑ "APC aspirant, Ifowodo, who begged for campaign funding loses Reps bid – Premium Times Nigeria". Premium Times Nigeria. December 10, 2014. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  12. ↑ "HOMELAND and Other Poems, by Ogaga Ifowodo". Africa World Press & The Red Sea Press. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  13. ↑ Ifowodo, Ogaga (1998). Homeland and other poems. Africa World Press. ISBN 9781592215942.
  14. ↑ "A REVIEW OF OGAGA IFOWODO'S HOMELAND AND OTHER POEMS". Su'eddie in Life n' Literature. August 16, 2010. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  15. ↑ "PROFILE: Ogaga Ifowodo". Blank POETRY. September 14, 2011. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  16. ↑ Tunde, Adeniran (December 19, 2016). Fate and Faith. Kraft Books. ISBN 9789789183265.
  17. ↑ "Book Review: Madiba - Sabi News". www.sabinews.com. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  18. ↑ "Abuja Literary Society hosts Ogaga Ifowodo to a reading from 'A Good Mourning,' his new book of poems short-listed for the NLNG Nigeria Literature Prize | Chidoonumah.com". www.chidoonumah.com. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  19. ↑ Books, Better World. "New & Used Books from Better World Books | Buy Cheap Used Books Online". Better World Books. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  20. ↑ "THE OIL LAMP: Poems, by Ogaga Ifowodo". Africa World Press & The Red Sea Press. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  21. ↑ Nwachukwu, McPhilips (February 13, 2006). "Nigeria: The Oil Lamp Is a Deliberate Intervention on Niger Delta Debate". Vanguard (Lagos). Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  22. ↑ Onyema, Chris C (May 2015). "Alter-Native Press: Implicating Subaltern Discourse in Ogaga Ifowodo's Ecological Poetry" (PDF). http://afrrevjo.net. External link in |website= (help)
  23. ↑ "Abuja Literary Society hosts Ogaga Ifowodo to a reading from 'A Good Mourning,' his new book of poems short-listed for the NLNG Nigeria Literature Prize | Chidoonumah.com". www.chidoonumah.com. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  24. ↑ "Memory and Trauma in Ogaga Ifowodo's "A Good Mourning" – Premium Times Nigeria". Premium Times Nigeria. September 26, 2017. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  25. ↑ Ibrahim, Abubakar Adam (October 8, 2017). "My Poetry is a Reflection on the Intimacy of Evil". Daily Trust.
  26. ↑ ""No Serious Writer I Know Writes for a Prize" | Interview with Ogaga Ifowodo (video)". ktravula – a travelogue!. October 3, 2017. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  27. ↑ "Ifowodo: Poets must seek other modes to empower their vision". Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  28. ↑ Ifowodo, Ogaga. "A Good Mourning – Ogaga Ifowodo". okadabooks.com. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  29. ↑ "THREE POETS ON THE CUSP OF $100,000 FORTUNE | The Sun News". sunnewsonline.com. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  30. ↑ "The 2017 NLNG Prize for Literature Longlist". Brittle Paper. July 24, 2017. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  31. ↑ "NLNG Announces Longlist for 2017 Nigeria Literature Prize". Olisa Blogazine. July 22, 2017. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  32. ↑ "11 poets vie for $100,000 NLNG-sponsored literature prize". Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  33. ↑ "Tanure Ojaide, Ogaga Ifowodo and Ikeogu Oke Shortlisted for the 2017 NLNG Prize". Brittle Paper. August 30, 2017. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  34. ↑ "Ikeogu Oke Awarded the 2017 NLNG Prize for His Poetry Collection The Heresiad". Brittle Paper. October 9, 2017. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
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