Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington.
Visiting Johnston Professor of Third World Literatures, 1989/90.

University of Maiduguri, Nigeria, 1977-89.
Reader, 1987-89.
            Senior Lecturer, 1985-87.
Lecturer I, 1982-85.
Lecturer II, 1977-82.

Courses Taught/Designed (Selected):

African Literature, Music & Art; Pan-African Literature; Creative Writing; Poetry Writing; African Literature in English; African Oral Literature; Post-colonial Literature, Theory and Criticism; Caribbean Literature in English; Literary Analysis of Black Protest of the 1960s; Folklore and Oral Traditions of Africa and the African Diaspora; The New African Poetry; Contemporary Nigerian/African Literature; African Women Writers; African-American Period/Authors; Culture, Society and Politics in African Literature; Introduction to Africana Studies; Research Methods; and Senior Seminar.

Awards/Honors:
           

• Invitation to and participation in PAWA World Poetry Festival, Accra, Ghana (November 2—8, 2008).
• Distinguished Visiting Professor of English, IUUM, Kuala Lumpur, September 2008.
• Second Tanure Ojaide International Conference, Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria (July 9—12, 2008).
• Senior Faculty Grant, UNC Charlotte, 2008.
• COAS Small Grant, 2007/2008.
• Received (with Dr. Rosemary Traore) UNC Charlotte’s Chancellor’s Diversity Grant (2007).
• Fellow, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Amherst, VA (May 2007).
• Appointed Frank Porter Graham Professor of Africana Studies in 2006.
• Winner, UNC Charlotte’s First Citizens Bank Scholar Medal Award for 2005.
• North Carolina Poet of the Week: February 25-March 3, 2006.
• Invitation to and participation in Poetry Africa 2005, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa (October 10—15, 2005).
• First International Conference on Tanure Ojaide, Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria (July 7-10, 2005).
• UNC Charlotte Senior Faculty Research Grant (2005).
• Fellow, Millay Colony for the Arts, Austerlitz, NY (August 2004).
• Fellow, Hawthornden International Retreat for Writers, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK (May/June, 2004).
• Southern Regional Education Board Small Grant (2004).
• UNC Charlotte Senior Faculty Research Grant for 2004.
• Winner, Association of Nigerian Authors/NDDC Gabriel Okara Poetry Prize (2003).
• Fulbright Lecturing/Research Fellowship for 2002/2003.           
• UNC Charlotte Curriculum/Instructional Development Grant for 2002/2003.
• Residency at the Rockefeller Bellagio Center for Scholars and Artists, Bellagio, Italy (July, 2001).
• UNC Charlotte Summer Research Grant (2001).
• Elected Member of the International Association of University Professors of English, Lausanne, Switzerland (2000).
• Juror, 16th Neustadt Literary Prize, U. of Oklahoma, Norman (2000).
• Won National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for research on Nigeria’s Udje Dance Songs (1999/2000).
• Fundacion Valparaiso fellowship, Mojacar, Spain (November 1999).
• UNC Charlotte Summer Research Grant (1999).
• UNC Charlotte Faculty Research Support Grant (1998/99).
• Winner, All-Africa Okigbo Prize for Poetry (November 1997).
• National Endowment for the Humanities Professorship, Albright College, Reading, PA (1996/97).
• UNC Charlotte Summer Research Grant (1997).
• UNC Charlotte Faculty Research Support grant (1996/97).
• UNC Charlotte Research Grant (1995/96).
• Winner, Association of Nigerian Authors' Poetry Award (1994).
• Fellow, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA (1994).
• Southern Regional Education Board Small Grant (1994).
• UNC Charlotte Curriculum/Instructional Development Grant (1993/94).
• UNC Charlotte Research Grant (1993/94).
• UNC Charlotte Research Grant (1992/93).
• Southern Regional Education Board Small Grant (1992).
• Honorable Mention for The Endless Song by the Noma Award Committee (1990).
• Nominated for Nigeria's National Merit Award (1989).

• Ahmadu Bello University (Zaria) Creative Writers Association Roll of Honor Award  (1989).
• Overall Winner, BBC Arts and Africa Poetry Award (1988).
• Winner, Association of Nigerian Authors' Poetry Prize (1988).
• Winner, All-Africa Christopher Okigbo Prize for Poetry (1988).
• Africa Regional Winner, Commonwealth Poetry Prize (1987).
• Fellow in Writing of The University of Iowa, Iowa City (1985).

Publications

Books

Poetry
           
Waiting for the Hatching of a Cockerel, a Neo-Epic Song (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2008).

            The Tale of the Harmattan (Cape Town, SA: Kwela Books/Snailpress, 2007).

            In the House of Words (Lagos: Malthouse Press Ltd., 2006).

            I Want to Dance and Other Poems (San Francisco: African Heritage Press, 2003).

In the Kingdom of Songs: Poems 1995-2000 (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2002).

Invoking the Warrior Spirit: New and Selected Poems (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1999).

When It No Longer Matters Where You Live (Calabar: University of Calabar Press, 1999).

Invoking the Warrior Spirit (Ibadan, Nigeria: Heinemann, 1998).

Delta Blues and Home Songs (Ibadan, Nigeria: Kraft Books, 1998).

Daydream of Ants (Lagos: Malthouse, 1997).

The Blood of Peace (Oxford, UK: Heinemann, 1991).

The Fate of Vultures & Other Poems (Lagos/Oxford: Malthouse, 1990).

The Endless Song (Lagos/Oxford: Malthouse, 1989).

Poems (Rotterdam, Netherlands: Poetry International, 1988).

The Eagle's Vision (Detroit: Lotus Press, 1987).

Labyrinths of the Delta (NY: Greenfield, 1986).

Children of Iroko & Other Poems (NY: Greenfield, 1973).
           
The New African Poetry: An Anthology, eds. Tanure Ojaide and Tijan M. Sallah (Boulder, CO: Lynne             Rienner Publishers, 1999).

Non-fiction/Memoir

Great Boys: An African Childhood (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1998).

Fiction

Matters of the Moment (Lagos: Malthouse, 2009).

The Debt-Collect & Other Stories (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2009).

The Activist (Lagos: Farafina Publishers, 2006).

Sovereign Body (Spring, Texas: Panther Creek Press, 2004).

God’s Medicine Men & Other Stories (Lagos: Malthouse Press, 2004).

 

Literary criticism

Theorizing African Oral Poetic Performance and Aesthetics: Udje Dance Songs of the Urhobo People (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2009).

Ordering the African Imagination: Essays on Culture and Literature (Lagos: Malthouse, 2007).

With Rose Aziza. The Urhobo Language Today (Lagos: Malthouse, 2007).

A Creative Writing Handbook for African Writers and Students (Lagos: Malthouse Press, 2005).
           
Poetry, Performance, and Art: The Udje Dance Songs of the Urhobo People (Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2003).

With Joseph Obi. Culture, Society, and Politics in Modern African Literature: Texts and Contexts (Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2002).

Poetic Imagination in Black Africa: Essays on African Poetry (Durham, NC: Carolina        Academic Press, 1996).

The Poetry of Wole Soyinka (Oxford/Lagos: Malthouse, 1994).

Language

With S. S. Ugheteni. Yono Urhobo: Obe Rerha (Lagos: Macmillan, 1981).

 

Chapters in Books

“Udje Dance Songs of Nigeria’s Urhobo People,” Indigeneity: Culture and Representation, ed. G. N. Devy, Geoffrey V. Davis, and K.K. Chakravarty, Hyderabad: Orient Blackswan, 2009, pp.133-149.

“The Technical Accomplishments of Arthur Nortjie,” in Arthur Nortjie, Cape Town: University of S Africa Press, 2005.    

“In Fairness: Chinua Achebe’s Treatment of Women Characters,” Emerging Perspectives on Chinua Achebe, ed. Ernest Emenyonu, Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2004.

“How the Urhobo People See the World Through Art,” Where Gods and Mortals Meet: Continuity and Renewal in Urhobo Art, ed. By Perkins Foss, Museum for African Art, New York/ SNOECK, Ghent, 2004.

“Niyi Osundare and His Poetic Choices,” Emerging Perspectives on Niyi Osundare, ed. by Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2002.

“When the Poet Sings in a Time of War: The Poetry of Ken Saro-Wiwa,” Ken Saro-Wiwa, Writer and Environmental Activist: Essays in Assessment, ed. by Craig W.
McLuckie and Aubrey McPhail, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1999.

‘The Niger Delta, Nativity, and My Writing,” Sacred Spaces and Public Quarrels, ed. by Ezekiel Kalipeni and Paul T. Zeleza, Africa World Press, 1999.

Chapter on Comparative Study of African and African-American Poetry in Of                    Dreams Deferred, Dead or Alive: African Perspectives on African-American Literature, edited by Femi Ojo-Ade (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996); pp. 97-106.

Mario Azevedo, ed. Africana Studies: A Survey of Africa and The African Diaspora           (Durham: Carolina Academic Press, 1993; rev. 1998); pp. 317-330.

Bernth Lindfors & James Gibbs, eds. Research on Wole Soyinka (Trenton, NJ: Africa        World Press, 1993); pp. 163-171.

Anthologies

Salvad a Copito: Pequena Antologia Poesia Africana Contemporanea (Buenos Aires: Clase Turista, 2005).

The Picador Book of African Stories, ed. Stephen Gray (London: Picador, 2000).

The New African Poetry: An Anthology, eds. Tanure Ojaide and Tijan M. Sallah (Boulder, CO & London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1999).

Ogoni’s Agonies, ed. Na’Allah (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1998).

Emergency Kit: Poems for Strange Times, eds. Jo Shapcott and Matthew Sweeney            (London: Faber and Faber, 1996).

Poetry 2000: An Anthology of Poems, selected by Thomas & Frances Oliver                       (Johannesburg/London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1996).

Rainbow Voices: An Anthology of Poetry, selected by J.O. Hendry             

(Johannesburg/London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1996).

Border Lines: Contemporary Poems in English, eds. Andy Wainwright et al.                      (Toronto: Copp Clark Longman, 1995).

Poesie d'Afrique au Sud du Sahara (1945-1995), ed. Bernard Magnier (Paris: Editions       UNESCO, 1995.

New Poets of West Africa, ed. Tijan Sallah (Lagos: Malthouse, 1995).

The Heinemann Book of African Poetry in English, ed. Adewale Maja-Pearce                     (Oxford: Heinemann, 1990).

The Fate of Vultures: New Poetry of Africa, eds. Zimunya, Peter Porter and Kofi                Anyidoho (Oxford: Heinemann, 1989).

Aftermath: African, Caribbean & Asian Poetry, eds. Weaver and Bruchac (NY:                  Greenfield, 1977).

For Neruda/Chile, ed. Walter Lowenfels (Boston: Beacon, 1974).

Magazines

My poems have appeared, among other places, in World Literature Today; Nimrod ; New Letters; Okike (Nigeria); The Madison Review; Europe; Syracuse Review; West Africa; Chelsea; Poetry Europe; London Magazine; Poetry Review (London); Obsidian II; Pale Fire Review; Washington     Review; Blue Moon; Soho Square; Hayden's Ferry Review; Agon; Paintbrush; Wasafiri (UK); Illuminations; Left Curve; The Toronto Review of Contemporary Writing Abroad (Canada); Notre Librairie (France); Times Literary Supplement (London); Stand UK); Chimurenga South Africa); Call Magazine; Carapace (South Africa); Asiatics (Malaysia); and Journal of African Literature Association.

“God and His Medicine Men,” a short story, appeared in The Picador Book of African Stories edited by Stephen Gray (London: Picador, 2000) and in The Toronto Review of Contemporary Writing Abroad, vol. 18, no. 1 (fall 1999), pp. 46-57.

 

Articles in Refereed Journals
           
“Canonization and Modern African Literature,” Asiatic: Journal of the Department of English Language and Literature of IIUM, June 2009 (online).

“Migration, Globalization, and Recent African Literature,” World Literature Today (U. of Oklahoma, Norman), March/April 2008.

“The Love Poetry of African Women,” Palabres (Bayreuth, Germany), Special Issue 2001, pp. 135-145.

“Poetry, Performance, and Art: Udje Dance Songs of Nigeria’s Urhobo People,” Research in African Literatures, vol. 32, no. 2 (Summer 2001), pp. 44-75.

“La Poesie Africaine,” Notre Librairie: Revue des Litteratures du Sud, No. 141 (Fall 2000).

“African Literature and Its Context: Teaching Teachers of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall   Apart,” Women’s Studies Quarterly, vol. XXV, nos. 3 &4 (Fall/Winter 1997), pp. 169-           177.    

"Orality in Recent West African Poetry," CLA Journal, vol. XXXIX, no. 3 (March 1996);             pp. 302-319.

"New Trends in Contemporary African Poetry," Research in African Literatures, Spring    Issue (1995); pp. 4-19.

"I Want To Be An Oracle: My Poetry And My Generation," World Literature Today, vol. 68, no. 1 (Winter 1994); pp. 15-22.

Liwuram: Journal of the Humanities, vol. 1, no. 1 (Dec.1985); pp. 56-60.

"The Poet's Persona in Wole Soyinka's Four Archetypes," Research in African                    Literatures, Spring 1983; pp. 55-69; also in Contemporary          Literary Criticism (ed. Daniel             G. Marowski), 36 (1986).

"Poetic Imagination in Black Africa," Syracuse Scholar, Spring Issue; 1983, pp. 83-90.

"The Voice and Viewpoint of the Poet in Four Early Poems of Wole Soyinka," UMOJA,   Vol. V, no. 2 (Spring 1982); pp. 27-37.

"The Poetry of Udje Songs," BA SHIRU, vol. 12, no 1 (1981); pp. 31-38.

"Contemporary African Poetry," Greenfield Review, vol. 3, no. 4     (1974); pp. 23-27.

 

Completed Manuscripts & Works in Progress

    
Dictionary of Literary Biography: Contemporary African Writers. Volume Editor (for Bruccoli Clark/Gale Research, 2010).

            Matters of the Moment, a novel (Malthouse, 2009).

Drawing the Map of Heaven: An African Writer’s Experience of America.

Professional Associations:

International Association of University Professors of English
Modern Language Association of America
Associated Writing Programs
African Studies Association
African Literature Association
North Carolina Writers Network
International Black Writers, Charlotte
Association of Nigerian Authors

Professional Affiliations (Regular Reader/Reviewer for)

           World Literature Today (Norman, Oklahoma)
            Research in African Literatures (Columbus, Ohio)
            African Studies Review (Amherst, Massachusetts)
            College Literature (West Chester, Pennsylvania)
            African Book Publishing Record (Oxford, UK)

 

Professional External Evaluations to Full Professorship

• Professor Nnaemeka Obioma (Indiana University)
• Professor Peter Okpokodu (University of Kansas, Lawrence)
• Professor Lokangaka Losambe (University of Vermont, Burlington)
• Professor Beverly Black (University of Kansas, Lawrence)
• Professor Chimalum Nwankwo (NC State University, Raleigh)
• Professor Moradewun Adejunmobi (University of California, Davis)
• Professor Tuzyline Allan (Baruch College, New York)
• Professor Christel N. Temple (University of Pennsylvania)

 

External Doctoral Committee Membership

• Dr. Richard Singletary (African Art, Virginia Commonwealth, October 2004)
• Dr. Dike Okoro (English, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, December 2008).

Seminars/Conferences and Other Presentations (Selected):

-“Examining Canonization in Modern African Literature,” UNC Charlotte on the 40th Anniversary of Africana Studies Department, March 18, 2009.
-“African Literature and the Western Canon,” IIUM, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (September 2008).
-“Udje Dance Songs of the Urhobo People,” CHOTRO Conference, New Delhi, India (January 2 to 10, 2008)
-“Teaching African Literature in a non-African Environment,” African Literature Association Conference, Accra, Ghana (May 17 – 21, 2006).
-“Modern African Literature and Its Cultural Identity,” at University of Vermont, Burlington (March 1, 2004).
-“Creative Writing and Publishing in a Global Age,” at Western Illinois University, Macomb (March 26-27, 2002).
-“Cultural Challenges to Africans in America,” Keynote Address at University of Nevada at Reno, February 8, 2002).
-“Combating Terror in the Literary World,” James Moore Keynote Address at Millikin University, Decatur, Illinois (November 28, 2001).
-“Dichotomies and Impediments to Writing in Africa,” at the African Literature Association Conference at Richmond, VA (April 4-8, 2001)
-“How the Urhobo People See the World through Art,” at The National African Museum of the Smithsonian, Washington, DC (November 18, 2000).
-“Nigerian Literature in the New Century: What Direction?” Keynote address at the Association of Nigerian Authors Convention, Jos (November 1-5, 2000).
-"Diversifying the American School Curriculum: Why Include African Literature," Wilberforce, Ohio; Plenary Session Address at Diversifying the School curriculum Symposium (November 9-10, 2000).
-“Writing Poetry in Urhobo Language,” African Languages and Literature Conference, Asmara, Eritrea (January 10-18, 2000)
-“African and African-American Women’s Poetry,” African Literature Association            Conference, Fez, Morocco (March 14-17, 1999)
-“The New African Poetry,” Colloque on African Literary Thresholds, University of          Toulouse, Le Mirail, France. (February 1-8, 1999)
-“The African Writer and the English Language” Conference, West Chester University                 (October 24-27, 1996).
-Spring Symposium on “African Space, Culture and Society” at the University of Illinois             at Urbana-Champaign (March 28-31, 1996).
-North Carolina Writers Fall Conference on “Literature Re-Writing Culture” (November               11-13, 1995).
-SERSAS mini-conference at U. of Virginia, Charlottesville ( October 23-24, 1995).
-African Literature Conference, University of Tel-Aviv, Israel ( June 17-24, 1995).
-African Literature Association Conference, Columbus : Poetry Reading & Roundtable                 on African Poetry (March 15-19, 1995).              
-African Literature Association Conference, Accra, Ghana (March 19-24, 1994)
-NEH Summer Institute on "Literature and Modern Experience in Africa", Center for                    African Studies, The Ohio State University, Columbus ( July 26-August 1, 1993).
-Women of Africa and the Diaspora International Conference, University of                                  Nigeria, Nsukka (July 13-20, 1992).    
-International Conference on Children in African Literature, Calabar, Nigeria (May 5-12,             1991).
-World Poetry Festival, Toronto, Canada (April 2-8, 1990)
Rockefeller Bellagio Study and Conference Center, Italy (July 8-August 2, 1989)
-African Leadership Forum, Otta-Abeokuta (May 11-14, 1989)
-International Poetry Festival, Rotterdam (The Netherlands, June 18-27, 1988)
-Commonwealth Poetry Seminar, London (November 6, 1987)
-International Communication Conference (University of Maiduguri, May 6-9, 1987)
-African Studies Association Conference (New Orleans, November 19-23, 1985).
-International Writing Program, University of Iowa, Iowa City (September 1-                                December 17, 1985).       
-Residence at Yaddo (Saratoga Springs, July-September, 1984; August-September,                       1987).
-20th Century Literature and Society (Syracuse, Summer, 1981)
-Radical Perspective on African Literature (Ibadan, May 7-11, 1978)
-Oral Literature in Africa (Ibadan, November 16-19, 1977)

University and Community Service:

            -Fulbright Africa Fellowship Review Committee (since 2007)
            -Departmental Representative, College of Arts and Science Council (2006/2008).
-Member of College of Arts and Science Reappointment Promotion and Tenure Taskforce (2006/2007).
            -College Representative, First Citizens Bank Scholar Medal Committee (2006-2009).
            -Member, College RTP Task Force Committee (2006/2007).
            -Departmental Representative, Faculty Council, 2004 onward.
            -Member of the Editorial Board, World Literature Today (U of Oklahoma)
            -Consultant, National Museum of African Arts, New York (2001-2004)
            -Consultant, African Section, Encyclopedia Americana (2002-2005)
            -Chair, Departmental Academic & Review Committees
-Chair, African Studies Academy, UNC Charlotte (1992-present)
-Chair, Departmental Search Committee (1998/99)  
-Departmental Representative, Faculty Council (1997-99)
-Member, AAAS Chair Review Committee (1997)
-Member, AAAS Review Committee (1997/98)
-Chair, AAAS Academic Programs Committee (1997 onward)
-Departmental Representative, Faculty Council (1997 onward)
-Member, Multicultural Committee, Albright College, Reading (1996/97).
-Chair, AAAS Publicity Committee (1994-97).
-Member, International Programs Faculty Advisory Committee, UNC Charlotte (1995 to             the present).
-Lecture on African culture and the education of children at Monroe Public Library                       (February 20, 1995).
-Talk to congregation of Black Baptist Church at Waxau, NC, on African culture                           (February 1995).
-Member, Organizing Committee of North Carolina Writers’ Fall Conference (1995)
-Advisory Board, International Black Writers of Charlotte (1993-96).
-Chair, Department Review Committee (1994)
-Advisory Committee, UNC Charlotte Writing Program (1994-96)
-State Poetry Live Advisory Committee (1994-96)
-Assistant Editor, The Southern Poetry Review (1994 to the present)
-Lecture on African art at Davidson College (February 15, 1993)
-Poetry workshop and reading at Barber Scotia College, Concord, NC (April 5, 1993).

-Chief Judge for Art (Drawing, Painting, and Sculpture) in the NAACP-sponsored               competition for Black students in Mecklenburg County at J.C. Smith University,        Charlotte (April 17, 1993).
-Chairman, Haperprint Chapbook Competition for North Carolina Writers (1993)
-Lecture on African Literature and Culture at Monroe Public Library (February 11, 1993)
-Co-directed workshop on World Literature to high school teachers of Cabarrus County                (June 28/29, 1992).
-Member, Board of North Carolina Writers’ Network (1992-95)
-Departmental Representative, Arts and Sciences Council (1990-92, 1994-95)
-Consultant to Afro-American Cultural Center on African culture (1991-94).
-Charity Poetry Reading at Barnes & Noble, Poplar Street Books, The Know Bookstore,               and the Charlotte/Mecklenburg Public Library (since 1990 to the present).
-Lectures in elementary and high schools on Africa and African culture—Piedmont                       Middle, East Meck, Spaugh Middle School, David Cox, and Marie G. Davis, among                      others (since 1990 to the present).
-Member, Senate Publications Committee, U. of Maiduguri (1988-89).
-Member, University Postgraduate Board, U. of Maiduguri (1987-89).
-Acting Head, Department of English (1987, 1988).
-Coordinator, Postgraduate Programs, Department of English, U. of Maiduguri (1985-                  89).

-Editor, Liwuram: Journal of the Humanities, U. of Maiduguri (1984-86).