Brown to Host Two Iconic African Writers in Historic Appearance

Monday, September 19, 2011

GoLocalProv Arts Team

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Chinua Achebe

Literary history will be made at Brown University this month.

On Monday, September 26, two pillars of African literature, Chinua Achebe and Gabriel Okara, will share a stage for the first time ever.

Internationally acclaimed literary figures, plus Brenda Marie Osbey, will discuss "Voice and Memory in the Poetic Imagination" at 4 p.m. in the George Houston Bass Performing Arts Space, Churchill House, 155 Angell St. It is free and open to the public and also available to view in a live Webcast.

Icons of African literature

This is indeed a coup for Brown, as well as for Rhode Island. Considered icons of African literature, Achebe and Okara have never before shared a stage for a public conversation and readings from their works. Nigerian poet and novelist Okara, recipient of the 1979 Commonwealth Poetry Prize, is known as the first significant English-language African poet. He is believed to be the oldest living English language writer in Africa. Achebe, best known for Things

Gabriel Okara

Fall Apart (1958) and Collected Poems (2004), is the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and professor of Africana studies at Brown. Osbey, the 2005-07 poet laureate of Louisiana and author of the award-winning All Saints: New and Collected Poems (1997), is currently a distinguished visiting professor of Africana studies at Brown. The conversation will be moderated by author Nduka Otiono, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Africana Studies.

Historic moment

“This is an historic moment in literature, as it is the first public forum in which Achebe and Okara will reflect on their experiences, memories, and writings of the Nigerian civil war, natural disaster, and of course, hope,” said Otiono, former general secretary of the Association of Nigerian Authors. “Together, these three distinguished poets symbolize both the African and Africana experiences, past and present.”

The conversation will include a discussion about Achebe, Okara, and Osbey’s poetry and artistic visions, the role of poetry and the arts in

brendaosbey

Brenda Marie Osbey

society, and the ways in which poetry can create opportunities for change. The dialogue is the first in the 2011-12 Conversations in Africana Writing series, organized by the Department of Africana Studies.

“To have these three living legends — Achebe, Okara, and Osbey — together is extraordinary," said Corey D.B. Walker, chair of the department. "I think this is a conversation that will continue to echo for a long time,"

"Voice and Memory in the Poetic Imagination," 4pm, George Houston Bass Performing Arts Space, Churchill House, 155 Angell St, Providence. The live webcast will available at http://brown.edu/web/livestream/.