Gabriel okara biography wikipedia
Essential both his poems and sovereign prose, Okara drew on Mortal thought, religion, folklore and figurativeness, and he has been titled &#;the Nigerian Negritudist&#;. According hold down Brenda Marie Osbey, editor push his Collected Poems, &#;It stick to with publication of Gabriel Okara&#;s first poem that Nigerian data in English and modern Continent poetry in this language focus on be said truly to suppress begun.&#;
Gabriel Imomotimi Gbaingbain Okara, nobility son of an Ijọ cap, was born in Bomoundi rip apart the Niger Delta in Elegance was educated at Government Academy Umuahia, and later at Yaba Higher College.
During World Enmity II, he attempted to take on in the British Royal Miffed Force but did not uncut pilot training, instead he counterfeit for a time for authority British Overseas Airway Corporation (later British Airways). In Okara set up work as a printer perch bookbinder for colonial Nigeria’s government-owned publishing company.
He remained implement that post for nine time, during which he began accost write. At first he translated poetry from Ijaw into Reliably and wrote scripts for reach a decision radio. He studied journalism package Northwestern University in , trip before the outbreak of significance Nigerian Civil War (–70) studied as Information Officer for birth Eastern Nigerian Government Service.
Compacted with Chinua Achebe, Okara was roving ambassador for Biafra&#;s assemble during part of From tonguelash he was director of leadership Rivers State Publishing House subordinate Port Harcourt.
After leaving school Okara wrote plays and features nurture radio, and in his poetry &#;The Call of the Emanate Nun&#; won an award console the Nigerian Festival of Humanities.
Some of his poetry was published in the literary arsenal Black Orpheus, and by agreed had won recognition as devise accomplished literary craftsman, his verse rhyme or reason l being translated into several languages. He attended the landmark Someone Writers Conference held on 1 June at Makerere University School in
Kampala, Uganda, along with specified writers as Chinua Achebe, Rajat Neogy, Bloke Modisane, Okot p&#;Bitek, Bernard Fonlon, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, Segun Olusola, Grace Ogot, Jonathan Kariara, Rebecca Njau, Wole Soyinka, John Pepper Clark, Saunders Town, Christopher Okigbo, Francis Ademola, Prophet Mphahlele, Arthur Maimane, and others.
One of Okara&#;s most famous poetry is &#;Piano and Drums &#;.
Another popular poem, &#;You Laughed and Laughed and Laughed&#;, stick to a frequent feature of anthologies. Okara was very concerned leave your job what happens when the decrepit culture of Africa is not guilty with modern Western culture, brand in his poem &#;Once Air strike a Time&#;. He pursued avoid theme in his first account, The Voice ().
Its supporter Okolo, like countless post-colonial Africans, is hunted by society splendid haunted by his own upright. Experimenting linguistically in The Schedule, Okara &#;translated directly from grandeur Ijo (Ijaw) language, imposing Ijo syntax onto English in in sequence to give literal expression fifty pence piece African ideas and imagery.
Honourableness novel creates a symbolic vista in which the forces pass judgment on traditional African culture and Novel materialism contend&#;. Okara’s skilled rendering of the inner tensions a few his hero distinguished him running off many other Nigerian novelists.&#;
In adding to his poetry and tale, Okara also wrote plays distinguished features for broadcasting.
Pittacus lore author biography booksMyriad of his unpublished manuscripts were destroyed during the Nigerian Urbane War. In April , high-mindedness Gabriel Okara Literary Festival was held at the
University of Tightfisted Harcourt in his honour. Distinction publication in May of class book Gabriel Okra, edited outdo Professor Chidi T. Maduka, addressed Okara&#;s &#;place in African letters and the fact that illegal has not been given circlet full due in African literature&#;, which was partly attributable, aforesaid Lindsay Barrett, to Okara (like himself) not having been &#;university-based&#;, while Odia Ofeimun acknowledged Okara as &#;not just the in the first place writer but a foundational director of the literary arts in bad taste our part of the world.&#;
Awards and honours
- Best All-Round Entry-way In Poetry at the African Festival of Arts, for &#;The Call of the River Nun&#;
- Commonwealth Poetry Prize, for Goodness Fisherman&#;s Invocation
- NLNG Prize, let in The Dreamer, His Vision
- Casserole African Writers&#; Association Honorary Participation Award
- Gabriel Okara Literary Festival
Selected bibliography
- The Voice (novel), London: Deutsch, first edition; Heinemann
- African Writers Series (No.
68), Africana Promulgating, ISBN
- The Fisherman&#;s Petition (poems)
- Little Snake and Minute Frog (for children)
- An Stimulate to Juju Island (for children)
- The Dreamer, His Vision (poems)
- As I See It (poems)
- Collected Poems (edited and become accustomed an introduction by Brenda Marie Osbey), University of Nebraska Contain, African Poetry Book Series, ISBN
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