Niyi Osundare
Niyi Osundare
Born	March 12, 1947 (age 76) Ikere-Ekiti
Occupation	Poet • playwright • literary critic • linguist
Nationality	Nigerian
Alma mater	Amoye Grammar School, Christ's School, University of Ibadan, University of Leeds, York University
Genre	Poetry, plays, literary criticism
Years active	1981–present
Notable works	Songs of the Marketplace (1983), The Eye of the Earth (1986), Waiting Laughters (1990), Green: Sighs of Our Ailing Planet (2022)
Notable awards	Association of Nigerian Authors Poetry Prize 1986, 1989, & 1994, Commonwealth Poetry Prize 1986, NOMA Award 1991, Tchicaya U Tam'si Prize for African Poetry 2008, Nigerian National Order of Merit 2014

Niyi Osundare is a Nigerian poet, dramatist, linguist, and literary critic. Born on March 12, 1947, in Ikere-Ekiti,^[1] Nigeria, his poetry is influenced by the oral poetry of his Yoruba culture, which he hybridizes with other poetic traditions of the world, including African-American, Latin American, Asian, and European.

Family and education

Osundare gained degrees in English 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. Osundare has a wife, Kemi, and three children, two girls and a son who still lives in Nigeria. His deaf daughter is the 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, and moved so as to be closer to her. He has been used in many schools as an example of a poet.^[2]

Career

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 neighbour, who at the time was driving by in his boat, heard their shouts for help. They were rescued and bounced around from rescue shelters until they ended up in Rindge, New Hampshire, where Osundare could get a teaching job as a professor at Franklin Pierce College and things settled down.^[3]

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)-^[4]
• A Nib in the Pond (1986)-
• Moonsongs (1988)-
• Songs of the Season (1999)-
• Waiting Laughters (1990, winner of the Noma Award)-^[5]
• Niyi Osundare: Selected Poems (Heinemann African Poets) (1992)-
• Midlife (1993)-
• Seize the Day (1995)-
• Thread in the Loom: Essays on African Literature and Culture (2002)-
• The Word is an Egg (2002)-
• Pages from the Book of the Sun: New and Selected Poems (2002)-
• The State Visit (2002, play)-
• Early Birds: Poems for Junior Secondary, Book One, Book Two, Book Three (2004)-
• Two Plays (2005)-
• Tender Moments: Love Poems (2006)-
• City Without People: The Katrina Poems (2011)-
• Random Blues (2011)-
• Only If the Road Could Talk (2017)-
• Snapsongs: Homegroans and Foreignflares (2021)-
• Green: Sighs of Our Ailing Planet (2022)- (a sequel to The Eye of the Earth, 1986)

Documentary

In 2016, Osundare, along with his lifelong friend, the Sierra Leonean poet Syl Cheney-Coker, was the subject of a documentary called The Poets, by director Chivas DeVinck.^[6] The film follows Osundare and Cheney-Coker on a road-trip through Sierra Leone and Nigeria as they discuss their friendship and how their life experiences have shaped their art.