The African Studies Institute in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences will welcome poet, essayist, playwright and nonfiction writer Niyi Osundare to campus March 4-6.
As part of Osundare’s visit to UGA, he will deliver the 2019 African Studies Spring Lecture. Open free to the public, the lecture will be held March 5 at 3 p.m. in the auditorium of the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries.
A recipient of several awards including the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, two Cadbury Prizes, the Fonlon-Nichols Award and the Noma Award, Osundare is considered one of the most admired African Anglophone poets of his generation. The author of 18 books of poetry, two books of selected poems, four plays, a book of essays and numerous monographs and articles on literature, language, culture and society, Osundare regards his calling as a writer and his profession as a teacher as essentially complementary. Educated on three continents, he has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, a master’s degree from the University of Leeds in England and a doctorate from York University in Toronto, Canada.
Osundare is one of two African writers (joining Sierra Leonean poet and novelist Syl Cheney Coker) selected by the American organization Dialoguetalk for a major feature documentary, titled The Poets. A former Fulbright Scholar, Osundare currently is a Distinguished Professor of English at the University of New Orleans.
As part of the spring lecture, students who have completed the requirements for the certificate in African studies will be recognized.
Osundare’s visit is supported by several UGA units including the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences; the Institute of Native American Studies; the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts; the Institute for Women’s Studies; the departments of English, Romance languages, comparative literature and language and literacy education; the Creative Writing Program; the Institute for African American Studies; and the Graduate School.
More information is available at https://bit.ly/2EcrsWJ.
