Changing Trends of African Literature & Some Famous Nigerian Poets

The continent of Africa consists of 55 countries, each of which possesses a vast wealth of culture along with literary history. As such, each of the 55 nations has indigenous languages and history. Therefore, the aspect of African poetry covers an extensive and complex topic. In addition to these factors, colonization of the continent has resulted in heavy popularity of French, English and Portuguese languages at certain regions of this landmass.

As such, it is justified by a section of scholars and academicians that modern African literature – poetry in particular – has a dual heritage, pre-colonial and Western or European. The list of famous Nigerian poets is certainly going to go on and on until an eternity. The fraternity of creative talents is dedicated enough about its work; their combined works have touched scores of lives through their sheer creativity. Their works reflect truly reflect the contemporary society in more ways than what one can imagine.

These people have certainly contributed heavily in making Africa along with its enriched culture and heritage more familiar to the outside world. Prior to the era of these outstanding poets and literary geniuses, the world knew Africa only as home to unbelievable wilderness. In fact, the larger world was, in a way, ignorant about to perennial stream of human feelings and emotions that existed in the continent across the ages. The works of these geniuses have certainly helped to upgrade the global society with realistic knowledge about the great continent.

Dr. Tanure Ojaide is one of the most distinguished names among the geniuses of post-colonial African literature. This creative genius is an exceptionally gifted author in one hand and a prolific poet in the other. Some of his more popular works include titles like New African Poetry: an Anthology, Stars of the Long Night, The Eagle's Vision, Poetic Imagination in Black Africa, I Want to Dance and Other Poems, etc. Apart from these, he has authored several stories, novels and fictions revolving around the continent’s history, heritage and contemporary society.
Dr. Ojaide has extensive exposure to foreign lands and cultures. He travels a lot around the world to keep his engagements of attending various literary festivals round the year.