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Niyi Osundare (born in 1947 in Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria) is a prolific poet, dramatist and literary critic. He gained degrees at the University of Ibadan (BA), the University of Leeds (MA) and York University, Canada (PhD, 1979). Previously professor (from 1989) and Head of English (1993–97) at the University of Ibadan, he became professor of English at the University of New Orleans in 1997. Niyi has a wife, Kemi, and three children, two girls and a son who still lives in Nigeria. His deaf daughter is the real reason Niyi settled in the United States. She could not go to school in Nigeria so they found a school in the U.S. for her. They moved with her so Niyi and Kemi could be closer to her. He has always been a vehement champion of the right to free speech and is a strong believer in the power of words, saying, "to utter is to alter". Osundare is renowned for his commitment to socially relevant art and artistic activism and has written several open letters to the former President of Nigeria (Olusegun Obasanjo), whom Osundare has often publicly criticised. Osundare believes that there is no choice for the African poet but to be political:
Under the rule of the dictator General Sani Abacha (1993–1998), Osundare regularly contributed poems to a Nigerian national newspaper (now part of the collection ''Songs of the Season'') that criticised the regime and commented upon the lives of people in Nigeria. As a result he was frequently visited by Security Agents and asked to explain his poems and to whom they referred:
"A couple of my students at the University of Ibadan had become informers; a few even came to my classes wired. And when I was reading abroad, someone trailed me from city to city. At home, my letters were frequently intercepted." In 1997, he accepted a teaching and research post at the University of New Orleans. In 2005 Osundare was caught in Hurricane Katrina, and he and his wife were stuck in their attic for 26 hours. Their neighbor, who at the time was driving by in his boat, heard their shouts for help. They were rescued and bounced around from rescue shelters till they ended up in Ringe, New Hampshire, where Osundare could get a teaching job as a professor at Franklin Pierce Collage till things settled down. He is a holder of numerous awards for his poetry, as well as the Fonlon/Nichols award for "excellence in literary creativity combined with significant contributions to Human Rights in Africa". His 60th Birthday Literary Fete took place at venues in Ikere-Ekiti, Ibadan and Lagos state of Nigeria in March 2007.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Announcing )〕 His poem "Not My Business" is compulsory study in the AQA A syllabus for GCSE English Language. In December 2014, Osundare was awarded the Nigerian National Merit Award (NNMA) for academic excellence.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Merit award won’t silence me as critic, says Osundare )〕 == Publications == * ''Songs from the Marketplace'' (1983) * ''Village Voices'' (1984) * ''The Eye of the Earth'' (1986, winner of a Commonwealth Poetry Prize and the poetry prize of the Association of Nigerian Authors) * ''Moonsongs'' (1988) * ''Songs of the Season'' (1999) * ''Waiting Laughters'' (1990, winner of the Noma Award) * ''Selected Poems'' (1992) * ''Midlife'' (1993) * ''Thread in the Loom: Essays on African Literature and Culture'' (2002) * ''The Word is an Egg'' (2002) * ''The State Visit'' (2002, play) * ''Pages from the Book of the Sun: New and Selected Poems'' (2002) * ''Early Birds'' (2004) * ''Two Plays'' (2005) * ''The Emerging Perspectives on Niyi Osundare'' (2003) * ''Not My Business'' (2005) * ''Tender Moments:Love Poems'' (2006) 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Niyi Osundare」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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