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Gabriel Okara

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Name
  
Gabriel Okara


Role
  
Poet

Gabriel Okara Once upon a time


Books
  
The fisherman's invocation, The voice, The Dreamer, His Vision: Poems, Little Snake and Little Frog

Similar
  
Christopher Okigbo, J P Clark, Brenda Marie Osbey

Summary of Once Upon A Time by Gabriel Okara


Gabriel Imomotimi Okara (born 24 April 1921) is a Nigerian poet and novelist who was born in Bumoundi in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria. The first Modernist poet of Anglophone Africa, he is best known for his early experimental novel, The Voice (1964), and his award-winning poetry, published in The Fisherman's Invocation (1978) and The Dreamer, His Vision (2005). In both his poems and his prose, Okara draws on African thought, religion, folklore and imagery, and he has been called "the Nigerian Negritudist". According to Brenda Marie Osbey, editor of his Collected Poems, "It is with publication of Gabriel Okara's first poem that Nigerian literature in English and modern African poetry in this language can be said truly to have begun."

Contents

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Biography

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Gabriel Imomotimi Gbaingbain Okara, the son of an Ijọ chief, was born in Bomoundi in the Niger Delta in 1921. He was educated at Government College Umuahia, and later at Yaba Higher College. During World War II, he attempted to enlist in the British Royal Air Force but did not complete pilot training, instead he worked for a time for the British Overseas Airway Corporation (later British Airways).

Gabriel Okara Gabriel Okara Author Info Published Books Bio Photo Video and More

In 1945 Okara found work as a printer and bookbinder for colonial Nigeria’s government-owned publishing company. He remained in that post for nine years, during which he began to write. At first he translated poetry from Ijaw into English and wrote scripts for government radio. He studied journalism at Northwestern University in 1949, and before the outbreak of the Nigerian Civil War (1967–70) worked as Information Officer for the Eastern Nigerian Government Service. Together with Chinua Achebe, Okara was roving ambassador for Biafra's cause during part of 1969. From 1972 to 1980 he was director of the Rivers State Publishing House in Port Harcourt.

Writing

Gabriel Okara Gabriel Okara on writing poems Nigerian Philosopher

After leaving school Okara wrote plays and features for radio, and in 1953 his poem "The Call of the River Nun" won an award at the Nigerian Festival of Arts. Some of his poetry was published in the literary magazine Black Orpheus, and by 1960 he had won recognition as an accomplished literary craftsman, his poetry being translated into several languages. One of his most famous poems is "Piano and Drums". Another popular poem, "You Laughed and Laughed and Laughed", is a frequent feature of anthologies. Okara is very concerned with what happens when the ancient culture of Africa is faced with modern Western culture, as in his poem "Once Upon a Time".

Gabriel Okara Gabriel Okara Nigerian author Britannicacom

He pursues that theme in his first novel The Voice (1964, ) Its protagonist Okolo, like countless post-colonial Africans, is hunted by society and haunted by his own ideals. Experimenting linguistically in The Voice, Okara "translated directly from the Ijo (Ijaw) language, imposing Ijo syntax onto English in order to give literal expression to African ideas and imagery. The novel creates a symbolic landscape in which the forces of traditional African culture and Western materialism contend.... Okara’s skilled portrayal of the inner tensions of his hero distinguished him from many other Nigerian novelists."

In addition to his poetry and fiction, Okara has also written plays and features for broadcasting.

Many of his unpublished manuscripts were destroyed during the Nigerian Civil War.

In April 2017, the Gabriel Okara Literary Festival was held at the University of Port Harcourt in his honour.

Awards and honours

  • 1953: Best All-Round Entry In Poetry at the Nigerian Festival of Arts, for "The Call of the River Nun"
  • 1979: Commonwealth Poetry Prize, for The Fisherman's Invocation
  • 2005: NLNG Prize, for The Dreamer, His Vision
  • 2009: Pan African Writers' Association Honorary Membership Award
  • 2017: Gabriel Okara Literary Festival
  • References

    Gabriel Okara Wikipedia


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