Osundare is cover poet, headliner of 5th World Poetry magazine

POET, scholar and public intellectual Professor Niyi Osundare has been selected as cover poet and headliner for the 5th edition of ‘World Poetry’, a magazine of the World Poetry Movement.

Executive Deputy Secretary-General of China’s Boao International Poetry Festival and deputy editor-in-chief of ‘World Poetry’, Cao Shui, announced Osundare’s selection on January 15.

A selection of poems by the recently retired Professor of English at the University of New Orleans, US, will be published in the fifth edition of ‘World Poetry’.

With his selection, Professor Osundare became the first African poet to be honoured by the international poetry magazine.

Commenting on his selection, Osundare thanked the World Poetry Movement for the honour.

Born in Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti State, in 1947, Prof Osundare was educated at the University of Ibadan, University of Leeds and York University, Toronto, Canada.

His poetry collections include ‘City Without People: The Katrina Poems’, ‘Random Blues’, ‘Days’, ‘The Word Is an Egg’, ‘Midlife’, ‘Waiting Laughters’, ‘Moonsongs’ and ‘The Eye of the Earth’ among others.

Professor Osundare has won awards and prizes, including the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Prize, the Cadbury/ANA Prize, the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, the Noma Award, the Tchicaya U Tam’si Award for African Poetry, and the Fonlon/Nichols Award for “excellence in literary creativity combined with significant contributions to Human Rights in Africa”. He received the 2014 Nigerian National Merit Award.

He was a columnist for Newswatch and had poetry columns in Sunday Tribune, the rested NEXT newspaper, and The Nation.