ANA To Mark Acclaimed Nigerian Playwright Femi Osofisan’s 80th Birthday

Internationally acclaimed Nigerian playwright, scholar, and cultural activist, Professor Femi Osofisan, is clocking 80 on June 19.

To mark the don’s age and professional accomplishments, the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) will host several activities, including a September Mbari Lecture Session dedicated to Osofisan, a Playwriting Workshop, a national Playwriting Competition, and the publication of a Festschrift and a Tribute book.

The Mbari Lecture Session to be held in Abuja will critically engage Osofisan’s dramaturgy, ideological commitments, and pioneering innovations in adapting classical forms to African socio-political realities. The Playwriting Workshop is designed to mentor young dramatists in the aesthetics of socially engaged theatre, experimentation, and adaptation that define the man’s body of work. Participants in the national Playwriting Competition will have the opportunity to address any of the recurring themes of justice, resistance, community, and cultural memory that are central to his oeuvre.

Meantime, Orpheus Foundation, in partnership with ANA, will publish a scholarly volume comprising essays, reflections, and critical studies that explore the writer’s life, work, and intellectual legacy across disciplines, whilst friends, contemporaries, mentees, and admirers can submit writings highlighting the length of his personal and professional influence in a tribute publication.

The association has constituted two committees to ensure the success of the Ibadan and Abuja events. The Ibadan committee, comprising Phil Nwoko, Tunde Awosanmi, Freeman Okosun, and Busayo Fakunle, has Taslim Abiola Layonu as the chairman, and Rufus Kehinde as its vice chairman. Chairing the Abuja committee is Kyuka Lilymjok, Ngozi Atululu-Ebulum as secretary, and Chukwudi Eze, Umar Yogiza Jr, Esther Adelana, and Hussain Zaguru as committee members.