This book provides an ecocritical analysis of the poetry of the famous Nigerian poet Niyi Osundare. It interrogates the intricate interface between time and nature in 11 of Osundare’s defining poetry collections. This is a book of postcolonial ecocriticism from an African perspective. It brings together the ecocritical theory of animism and theories of geologic time in the discussion of Osundare’s poetry. Osundare shows that animism has a lot to offer in enriching human understanding of the ecosystem. And while he eloquently catalogues problems undermining the health of the earth in this age of the Anthropocene and the Capitalocene in his poetry, he also holds on to the hope of a better future. The book concludes that Osundare’s optimism is what informs his use of poetry to press humankind to rise to the duty of salvaging the environment. Deploying an interdisciplinary approach that stretches across the fields of literature, religion, geology, physics, economics, and anthropology, this book will be an important read for those looking for fresh ways to understand Osundare’s poetry and African nature writing.

"This book provides an ecocritical analysis of the poetry of the famous Nigerian poet Niyi Osundare. The book interrogates the intricate interface between time and nature in 12 of Osundare's defining poetry collections. This is a book of postcolonial ecocriticism from an African perspective. It brings together the ecocritical theory of animism and theories of geologic time in the discussion of Osundare's poetry. Osundare shows that animism has a lot to offer in enriching human understanding of the ecosystem. And while he eloquently catalogues problems undermining the health of the earth in this age of the Anthropcene and the Capitalocene in his poetry, he also holds on to the hope of a better future. The book concludes that Osundare's optimism is what informs his use of poetry to press humankind to rise to the duty of salvaging the environment. Deploying an interdisciplinary approach that stretches across the fields of literature, religion, geology, physics, economics and anthropology, this book is perfect for those looking for fresh ways to understand Osundare's poetry and African nature writing"--

A lyrical and panoramic body of poems from the prize-winning poet, informed by a revolutionary vision about the earth, our home.

Includes articles, annotated filmography, interviews, creative writing, and book reviews.

These poems from one of Africa's most highly acclaimed poets and the winner of the 1991 Noma Award for Publishing in Africa, are an ironic celebration of collective aspirations, failures, guilts and hopes. They call for change in a society wracked with problems. The poet sets out to produce a collection that captures the significant happenings of the time in a tune that is simple, accessible, topical, relevant, and artistically pleasing and, as he puts it: 'to remind kings about the corpses which line their way to the throne, to show the rich the slums which fester behind their castles, to praise virtue, denounce vice, to mirror the triumphs and travails of the downtrodden, to celebrate the green glory of the rainy season and the brown accent of the dry, to distil poetry from the dust and clay of the vast, prodigious land - songs plucked from the lips of my land in its manifold laughters and sorrows.'

Osundare advocates the poetry of performance- performance instructions and musical effects are part of the poems - as at once creative and deeply political. The present collection testifies, wholly convincingly, to the poet's belief that language - the Word - defines personal and social history, expression and identity. 'In the Beginning was not the Word/In the Word was the Beginning', launches the volume and is its constant refrain. Language may sometimes be impotent or illusory - the middle section, 'Silence', reflects upon political censorship, the struggle of illiteracy, and the agonies and ambivalence of writing in the colonial language. But words which commit to 'truth and dream', and preferably, 'throw bridges/Across gulfs of indifferent ears, are the poet's only tool of communication for change.

In this literary biography, Sule E. Egya, one of Nigeria's most promising scholar-critics, brings the skills of the storyteller and the scholar to bear on his recreation of the Osundare story. The result is a readable coming-of-age story that traces the writer's development from his rural and agrarian roots in Nigeria, through his education in Africa, Europe and North America, to his rise to prominence as one of the most versatile poets writing in English today. There can be no better platform to register the debt that Osundare owes his parentage, the rigorous discipline of his mentors and the diverse environments in which his outlook on the world has been shaped than this carefully crafted biography. Egya highlights Osundare's prodigious talent, his unwavering ethical compass, his infectious humanism, his enduring faith in the capacity of literature to reshape the world, and the harmony between his creative imagination and polemical writing. Readers and critics will find the biography an indispensable companion to reading Osundare not just because of the illuminating personal and cultural information that it offers, but also because it equally periodizes Osundare's work in a way no other book has done. Prof. Oyeniyi Okunoye, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife In Niyi Osundare: A Literary Biography, Sule E. Egya takes us on a journey of the life experiences of the artist-scholar Niyi Osundare. Indeed, there are some books a reader just can't put down. This is one of them. It takes you to the other worlds beyond the popular world of artistry and scholarship of one of Africa's most accomplished men of letters. Dr. Ogaga Okuyade, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island.