SYNW CELEBRATES PROF. OLU OBAFEMI AT 70 WITH DIGITAL LITERARY ARCHIVE
The
Society of Young Nigerian Writers (SYNW) has unveiled an online literary
archive @ https://oluobafemidigitalarchive.blogspot.com/ to
commemorate and celebrate Prof. Olu Obafemi @ 70. The Society also felicitated
with Prof. Olu Obafemi as he marked his 70th birthday on Saturday, 4th
of April, 2020.
The electronic
literary archive which contains interviews, articles, book reviews and essays
sourced with references written by and on Prof. Olu Obafemi’s promises to be an
avenue for studying the author’s life and works. The blog will be updated as
more writers and research works are written on the celebrant.
In a
statement signed by its President, Wole Adedoyin, in Ibadan on Saturday, the
Society said it was proud to associate with the former President of the
Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), describing him as a role model worthy of
emulation.
Adedoyin, in the statement, enjoined his family,
friends, literary loyalists, and well-wishers to celebrate this milestone of
him attaining the joyous age of seventy in good health and sound mind.
SYNW urged the Prof. Olu Obafemi to continue in
his invaluable support to the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) and
Nigerian Literature.
SYNW, the first young writers’ body in Nigeria
finally prayed that the Almighty God will grant Prof. Olu Obafemi longer life,
good health and more strength to celebrate more fruitful years.
Olu Obafemi, Professor of English and Dramatic Literature is a Fellow and Vice-President of the Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL). He is also a Fellow of the Nigerian English Studies Association, Society of Nigerian Theatre Artists and the Association of Nigerian Authors. He is the immediate past Director of Research at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS).
A Playwright, theatre director, poet, novelist,
translator, literary scholar and newspaper columnist, Professor Olu Obafemi has
published numerous books and journal articles in national and international
outlets. His main scholarly books include his seminal work on Contemporary
Nigerian Theatre, brought out in 1996 by Bayreuth African Studies,
Bayreuth, Germany, Politics and Aesthetics: Essays: Essays in Drama,
Theatre and Performance, Public Discourse on the Humanities, Cultural
Studies: Theories, Concepts and Practice and Ideology and Stagecraft
(the last two with Ahmed Yerima) among others. A prolific creative writer, Olu
Obafemi has published numerous plays including Naira Has No Gender, Nights
of a Mystical Beast, Suicide Syndrome, Ogidi Mandate
which won the ANA/JP Clark Prize for Drama (2010), Running Dreams
(2015) etc. His poetry volumes are Songs of Hope and Illuminations. Wheels
is his first novel. He has translated and published D.O.Fagunwa’s Adiitu
Olodumare as The Mysteries of God (2012).
As a man of the media, he has been a member of
the Editorial Board of many Newspapers including The Nigerian Herald, Post
Express, The Comet and The Sun Newspapers. He has been
Editorial Consultant and columnist for eight Nigerian newspapers.
He has been editor and editorial advisers for
many national and international books and journals including Cultural Studies,
Okun Studies, African Theatre, CBAAC journal, Omookun
journal, Journal of the Society of Theatre Artists, etc. His play
Ogidi Mandate won the ANA/JP Clark Prize for Drama in 2010 while his
poetry, Illuminations got Honourable mention in the ANA Prize in 2009.
A one-time Chairman of the Governing Board of the
National Commission for Museums and monuments (NCMM), former President of the
Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Professor Obafemi is the current
Chairman of the Intellectual Property organization, the Reproductive Rights
Society of Nigeria and a member of the International Federation of the
Reproduction Rights Organization (IFRRO).
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