Femi Osofisan

Babafemi Adeyemi Osofisan (born June 16, 1946), known as Femi Osofisan or F.O., is a Nigerian writer noted for his critique of societal problems and his use of African traditional performances and surrealism in some of his novels. A frequent theme that his novels explore is the conflict between good and evil. He is in fact a didactic writer whose works seek to correct his decadent society. He has written poetry under the pseudonym Okinba Launko.[1]

Femi Osofisan
BornBabafemi Adeyemi Osofisan
(1946-06-16) June 16, 1946
Erunwon, Ogun State, Nigeria
OccupationProfessor
NationalityNigerian
Alma materUniversity of Ibadan;
Sorbonne, Paris
Notable awardsThalia Prize
Website
Official website

Education and career

Babafemi Adeyemi Osofisan was born in the village of Erunwon,[2] Ogun State, Nigeria, on June 16, 1946 to Ebenezer Olatokunbo Osofisan, a school teacher, lay reader and church organist, and Phoebe Olufunke Osofisan, a schoolteacher. His last name, Òsófisan, signifies that his paternal ancestors were artists and artisans who worshipped the god of beauty and ornaments, Oso. Osofisan attended primary school at Ife and secondary school at Government College, Ibadan. He then attended the University of Ibadan (1966–69), majoring in French and as part of his degree course studying at the University of Dakar for a year, and going on to do post-graduate studies at the Sorbonne, Paris.[3] He subsequently held faculty positions at the University of Ibadan, where he retired as full professor in 2011. He is currently a Distinguished Professor of Theatre Arts, Kwara State University, Nigeria.

Osofisan is Vice President (West Africa) of the Pan African Writers' Association.[4]

In 2016, he became the first African to be awarded the prestigious Thalia Prize by the International Association of Theatre Critics,[5] the induction ceremony taking place on 27 September.[6]

Writing

Osofisan has written and produced more than 60 plays[7].[8] He has also written four prose works: Ma'ami, Abigail, Pirates of Hurt and Cordelia, first produced in newspaper columns, in The Daily Times and then The Guardian (Nigeria). One of his prose works; Ma'ami was adapted into a film in 2011. Several of Osofisan's plays are adaptations of works by other writers: Women of Owu from Euripides' The Trojan Women;[9] Who's Afraid of Solarin? from Nikolai Gogol's The Government Inspector; No More the Wasted Breed from Wole Soyinka's The Strong Breed; Another Raft from J. P. Clark's The Raft; Tegonni: An African Antigone from Sophocles′ Antigone,[10][11] and others.

Osofisan in his works also emphasizes gender: his representation of women as objects, objects of social division, due to shifting customs and long-lived traditions, and also as instruments for sexual exploitation; and his portrayal of women as subjects, individuals capable of cognition, endowed with consciousness and will, and capable of making decisions and effecting actions.

Selected works
  • Kolera Kolej. New Horn, 1975.
  • The Chattering and the Song. Ibadan: Ibadan University Press, 1977.
  • Morountodun and Other Plays. Lagos: Longman, 1982.
  • Minted Coins (poetry), Heinemann, 1987.
  • Another Raft. Lagos: Malthouse, 1988.
  • Once upon Four Robbers. Ibadan: Heinemann, 1991
  • Twingle-Twangle A-Twynning Tayle. Longman, 1992.
  • Yungba-Yungba and the Dance Contest: A Parable for Our Times, Heinemann Educational, Nigeria, 1993.
  • The Album of the Midnight Blackout, University Press, Nigeria, 1994.
  • "Warriors of a Failed Utopia? West African writers since the 70s" in Leeds African Studies Bulletin 61 (1996), pp. 11–36.
  • Tegonni: An African Antigone. Ibadan: Opon Ifa, 1999.
  • "Theater and the Rites of 'Post-Negritude' Remembering". Research in African Literatures 30.1 (1999): 1–11.

Awards
  • 2015: PAWA Membership Honorary Award[4][12]
  • 2016: Thalia Prize from the International Association of Theatre Critics[13]
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References
  1. "FEMI OSOFISAN LITERARY SOCIETY". Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  2. Femi Osofisan page at African Books Collective.
  3. Don Rubin, "A Brief Introduction to Femi Osofisan", Critical Stages/Scènes Critiques, December 2016: Issue No 14.
  4. "PAWA Congratulates Prof Osofisan", Modern Ghana, 1 April 2016.
  5. "Reward for criticism", The Nation, 3 February 2016.
  6. "Osofisan installed as 2016 Thalia laureate", PM News, 2 October 2016.
  7. "Prof. Femi Osofisan | UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN". www.ui.edu.ng. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  8. Voice, City. "International conference in Osofisan's honour holds next June | City Voice Newspaper". Retrieved 2020-05-11.
  9. Olasope, Olakunbi (2012). "To Sack a City or to Breach a Woman's Chastity: Euripides' Trojan Women and Osofisan's Women of Owu". African Performance Review, Journal of African Theatre Association UK. 6.1: 111–121.
  10. Olasope, Olakunbi (2002). "Greek and Yoruba Beliefs in Sophocles' Antigone and Femi Osofisan's Adaptation, Tegonni". Papers in Honour of Tekena N. Tamuno: 408–420.
  11. Goff, Barbara (2007-10-11). Antigone’s Boat: the Colonial and the Postcolonial in Tegonni: An African Antigone by Femi Osofisan. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199296101.001.0001/acprof-9780199296101-chapter-3. ISBN 9780191712135.
  12. "Echoes of Achebe's works at writers' show". Latest Nigeria News, Nigerian Newspapers, Politics. 2015-11-24. Retrieved 2020-05-30.
  13. "Femi Osofisan wins Thalia Prize 2016". Vanguard News. 2016-02-08. Retrieved 2020-05-30.
  • Contemporary Authors Online, Thomson Gale.

Further reading
  • Adeoti, Gbemisola. "The loudness of the “Unsaid”: Proverbs in selected African drama." Legon Journal of the Humanities 30, no. 1 (2019): 82-104.Web link
  • Chima Osakwe, The Revolutionary Drama and Theatre of Femi Osofisan. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018 ISBN 978-1-5275-1596-3
  • Olakunbi Olasope (ed), Black Dionysos: Conversations with Femi Osofisan. Ibadan: Kraft Books. 2013 ISBN 9789789181094
  • Sola Adeyemi (ed), Portraits for an Eagle: Essays in Honour of Femi Osofisan, Bayreuth African Studies, 2006. ISBN 978-3927510951
  • Tunde Akinyemi and Toyin Falola (eds), Emerging Perspectives on Femi Osofisan, Africa World Press, 2009. ISBN 978-1592216994
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