Niyi Osundare Biography

Nigerian poet, born in Ikere-Ekiti, educated at the University of Ibadan, the University of Leeds, and York University, Toronto. He returned to Nigeria to work as a university lecturer and journalist. Since 1985 he has taken poetry to a wide audience through his regular column in the Tribune newspaper. One of the most prolific and highly regarded of Nigeria's contemporary poets, Osundare's work uses a wide range of vernacular and literary idioms to frame its lyrical and satirical concern with social justice. His principal collections of verse include Songs of the Marketplace (1984), Waiting Laughters (1990), Songs of the Season (1990), Selected Poems (1992), and Midlife (1993). The Eye of the Earth (1986) won both the Association of Nigerian Authors' Poetry Prize and the Commonwealth Poetry Prize. He is a celebrated performer of his poetry, which has affinities with Nigeria's oral traditions.