poet - The African Mirror

Jul

2022

Wole Soyinka’s life of writing holds Nigeria up for scrutiny

AKINWANDE Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka, known simply as Wole Soyinka, can’t be easily described. He is a teacher, an ideologue, a scholar and an iconoclast, an elder statesman, a patriot and a culturalist. The Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet and essayist is a giant among his contemporaries. In 1986, he became the first sub-Saharan African, and is one of only five Africans, to be awarded the Nobel prize for literature. This was in recognition of the way he “fashions the drama of existence”. Author ABAYOMI AWELEWA, Lecturer in African and African Diasporan Literature, University of Lagos His works reveal him as a…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

Remembering Kaizer Nthambeleni Phalanndwa

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

VONANI BILA and MAANO TUWANI SOUTH AFRICAN poet and scholar Nthambeleni Kaizer Phalanndwa, who died at a Makhado, Limpopo hospital on Tuesday, was an epitome of a living and vibrant culture – a symbol of hope that even a rural kid from a dusty village can leave a mark on the annals of history. During the annual cultural dances of tshigombela, malende and tshikona which were a common feature at the University of Venda and in the community in the early 90s, Phalanndwa would sing with charisma and dance tshikona in file or in the circle with the ordinary. This…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

Linton Kwesi Johnson gave poetry back to the people

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

PERCY ZVOMUYA The dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, this year’s recipient of the PEN Pinter Prize, is the third consecutive black winner of the gong instituted in memory of Nobel-winning playwright Harold Pinter. Johnson, popularly known as LKJ, follows in the wake of British poet Lemn Sissay (2019) and Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2018). It’s no exaggeration that LKJ, who went to Britain from Jamaica at the age of 11 to follow his mother, part of the Windrush generation, did more than most to make black “cool” in Britain and beyond. In his music and poetry, he not only…