Soyinka, 3 other Nigerian poets make world poetry anthology

Prof Soyinka

Some works of four Nigerian poets have been chosen for inclusion in a forthcoming publication. Titled: “The Second Genesis: An Anthology of Contemporary World Poetry,” Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka and the three other poets such as:  Uzor Maxim Uzoatu, Obari Gomba and Ikeogu Oke, will contribute a total of nine poems to the anthology.

Daily Newswatch gathered that Soyinka and Gomba would contribute a poem each, titled “A Vision of Peace” and “The Ghost of a Country” respectively, to the anthology.

Uzor Maxim Uzoatu will contribute three poems titled “Bonding,” “Tropical Lore” and “Regenerating Lines”.

Ikeogu Oke has four poems slated for inclusion in the anthology, titled “Being Black,” “A ‘Savage’ Writes Back,” “The Tree” and “A Gandhian Prayer”.

The anthology is a project of the Academy of raite(s)* And World Literati (A.R.A.W.LII) based in Ajmer, India, and will feature works of poets from 58 countries and all the seven continents.

The roll of poets from other countries include the South African poet laureate Keorapetse Kgositsile, Aerdinfu Yiren and Zhu Likum from China, Elizabeth Adams and Katherine Gallagher from the UK, and Charles Fishman and Elizabeth Johnson from the USA. Others include Jayanta Mahapatra and Rinkoo Wadhera from India, James Charlton from Australia, Enrique Sacerio-Gari and Mireya Robles from Cuba, Maria Alekhina from Russia, Luis Raul Calvo from Argentina, etc.

The project manager of A.R.A.W.LII, Dr. Moizur Rehman Khan, conveyed the decision to feature the works of the four Nigerian poets in a recent email to the poets dated February 28, 2014.

“I am pleased to inform you that the final MSS of the proposed anthology is ready to go to print. This I write to let you know the final selection of the poems sent to us for the volume,” he said.

Soyinka, winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize for Literature is a notable writer, playwright and poet.

Uzoatu is a 2008 Caine Prize nominee whose poetry collections include the highly regarded God of Poetry. Gomba’s poetry collection, Length of Eyes, was long-listed for the 2013 Nigerian Literature Prize.

Oke is an author of several poetry collections for adults and the recent Song of Success, a musical book of children’s poems, whose poetry has received high praise from Nadine Gordimer, the winner of the 1991 Noble Prize in Literature.