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Prof. Olu Obafemi

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August 2, 2023 5:00 am

• Born on April 4, 1950 in Akutupa-Kiri, Kabba/Bunu Local Government Area of Kogi State, Nigeria.

• He had his elementary education in Kabba before moving to Government Secondary School, Dekina and later Titcombe College, Egbe for his secondary education.

• In 1975, he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in English at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and later proceeded to England, where he obtained an MA in English (1975) at the University of Sheffield, and a PhD (1981) also in English at the University of Leeds. His first play, Pestle on the Mortar, which was written while he was still an undergraduate, was produced in 1974 and broadcast by the Kaduna Broadcasting Corporation. He has published a number of other plays like Nights of a Mystical Beasts (1986), The New Dawn (1986), Suicide Syndrome (1993), Naira Has No Gender (1993),The Love Twirls of Adiitu-Olodumare (2016), and Iyunade (2016).

• Olu Obafemi is a Nigerian poet, playwright, author and Professor of English and Dramatic Literature at the University of Ilorin. He is the 76th recipient of the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NMOM) award (2018). He was the President of the Nigerian Academy of Letters between 2016 and 2018, when he was succeeded by Francis Egbokhare.

• He is believed to have pioneered an experimental tool for revolutionary aesthetics in Africa, typifying the plays of second generation Nigerian and African dramatist.

• Professor Olufemi Obafemi is an editorial consultant and columnist in several Nigerian national newspapers.

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