The 2014
activities of Port Harcourt World Book Capital year (PHWBC), reached its
crescendo when the Rainbow Book Club celebrated yet another African icon, JP
Clark.
Described as
Africa’s most lyrical poet, his book Full Tide, is the
PHWBC December Book-of-the-Month.
Reports have
it that the evening began with several readings from poets in the audience.
This was followed by a performance from students of St. Andrews School
IV. Child author, Daniella Clinton wowed the audience and JP Clark when
she read and analysed two of his poems; Here Nothing Works
and Miracle in a Farm.
Finally
it was time for the mixed audience of academics, poets, children and others, to
hear from the Guest of Honour, JP Clark, who started off by encouraging
children and adults to take up both the reading and writing of poetry. He went
on to emphasize that just like any other skill one can only get better at
writing through practice. A good poet he added needed to be well conversant
with the language in order to communicate their message.
The January
book of the month is ‘Say You Are One of Them’ by Oprah Book Club author, Rev
Father Uwem Akpan, the reading will hold on January 25th 2014, at
the Hotel Presidential and the author will be present to discuss his book and
autograph copies of it for readers.
Clark was born
in Kiagbodo, in Delta State, to Ijaw parents. He had his early education at the
Native Administration School and the Government College in Ughelli, and his
Bachelor of Arts degree in English at the University of Ibadan, where he
edited various magazines, including The Beacon and The
Horn. He graduated from
Ibadan in 1960 and worked as an information officer in the Ministry of
Information in the old Western Region of Nigeria, as features editor of the Daily
Express and as a research fellow at the Institute of African Studies,
University of Ibadan. He served for several years as a professor of English at
the University of Lagos, a position from which he retired in 1980. While at the
University of Lagos he was co-editor of the literary magazine Black Orpheus.
He founded the PEC Repertory Theatre in Lagos In 1982, with
his wife Ebun Odutola (a professor and former director of the Centre for
Cultural Studies at the University of Lagos),.
In 1991, he received the Nigerian National Merit Award for
literary excellence and saw the publication, by Howard University, of his two
definitive volumes, ‘The Ozidi Saga’ and ‘Collected Plays and Poems’ between
1958 and1988.
Some of the poetries he wrote include: A Reed in the Tide,
London: Longmans, 1965, A Decade of Tongues, London: Longmans, 1981 (also in
Braille), State of the Union, London; Longmans, 1985, Of Sleep and Old Age,
Lagos: Crucible, 2003, Once Again A Child, Ibadan: Mosuro, 2003, Still Full
Tide Collected Poems, 1958-2012, including Cruising home: University press,
Ibadan, 2012 and so on.
Dramas: Song of a Goat, Ibadan; Mbari, 1961, The Bikoroa
Plays: The Boat, The Return Home, Full Circle, London and Ibadan: Oxford
University Press and University Press, 1985, All For Oil, Lagos: Malthouse
press, 2010, Collected Plays 1961-2000, Ibadan: University Press, 2010 and The
Twilight Plays: The Hiss, The Smile, The Two Sisters, The Abuse of a king,
Ibadan: University Press, among others.
Essays: Poetry of the Urhobo Dance Udje, Nigeria Magazine,
no. 84, 1965, The Example of Shakespeare, London: Longmans, 1970, The Hero as a
Villain, Lagos: University of Lagos Press, 1978, The Burden Not Lifted,
Nigerian National Order of Merit Award Winners’ Lecture, Abuja, 2001 and The
Example of Shakespeare and Other Essays, Ibadan: University Press, (in press
2012).
Documentary Films: Tides of Delta (With Frank Speed), 1974,
Oil at the Bottom, 2007 and so on.
Music: Songs from The Ozidi Saga in three long-playing
records
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