Femi Osofisan

Education and career

Babafemi Adeyemi Osofisan was born in the village of Erunwon, 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, Ọ̀sọ́fisan, signifies that his paternal ancestors were artists and artisans who worshipped the god of beauty and ornaments, Ọ̀ṣọ́. 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. 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.

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

Writing

Osofisan has written and produced more than 60 plays. 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. His prose work, 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; 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, 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. His inspiration is based on his hometown and his society.

In 2013, drawing inspiration from Cao Yu's Thunderstorm and juxtaposing its narrative with contemporary events in his homeland, Osofisan wrote the play All for Catherine, which concerns class struggle, neocolonialism in China's activities in Africa and the anti-Chinese sentiment growing among Africans.

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.
• "Love's Unlike Lading: A Comedy from Shakespeare". Lagos: Concept Publications. 2012
• "One Legend, Many seasons". Lagos: Concept Publications. 2001

Awards

• 2015: PAWA Membership Honorary Award
• 2016: Thalia Prize from the International Association of Theatre Critics

References

• Contemporary Authors Online, Thomson Gale.

References

1. (2021-06-25). "As Osofisan's 'Cordelia' goes on big screen {{!}} The Nation".
2. [http://www.africanbookscollective.com/authors-editors/femi-osofisan Femi Osofisan page] at African Books Collective.
3. Don Rubin, [http://www.critical-stages.org/14/prof-don-rubins-brief-introduction-to-femi-osofisan/ "A Brief Introduction to Femi Osofisan"], ''Critical Stages/Scènes Critiques'', December 2016: Issue No 14.
4. (2021-06-16). "Femi Osofisan at 75: Homage to a literary luminary and statesman, By Toyin Falola".
5. [https://www.modernghana.com/news/683516/pawa-congratulates-prof-osofisan.html "PAWA Congratulates Prof Osofisan"], ''Modern Ghana'', 1 April 2016.
6. [http://thenationonlineng.net/reward-for-criticism/ "Reward for criticism"], ''The Nation'', 3 February 2016.
7. [http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2016/10/02/osofisan-installed-as-2016-thalia-laureate/ "Osofisan installed as 2016 Thalia laureate"], ''PM News'', 2 October 2016.
8. "Prof. Femi Osofisan {{!}} UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN".
9. Voice, City. "International conference in Osofisan's honour holds next June {{!}} City Voice Newspaper".
10. 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.
11. Olasope, Olakunbi. (2002). "Greek and Yoruba Beliefs in Sophocles' Antigone and Femi Osofisan's Adaptation, Tegonni". Papers in Honour of Tekena N. Tamuno.
12. Goff, Barbara. (2007-10-11). "Antigone's Boat: the Colonial and the Postcolonial in Tegonni: An African Antigone by Femi Osofisan". Oxford University Press.
13. Liu Xunqian. (November 2023). "Unveiling Neocolonialism in Sino-African Relations: Femi Osofisan's All for Catherine".
14. (2015-11-24). "Echoes of Achebe's works at writers' show".
15. (2016-02-08). "Femi Osofisan wins Thalia Prize 2016".