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6th Poetry Africa Festival 29 April - 5 May 2002 |
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Poetry Africa Biographies - page 4 of 4
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ATUKWEI OKAI
Ghana Publications: Flowerfal, 1969, London: Writers Forum The Oath of the Fontomfrom and Other Poems, 1971, New York: Simon and Schuster Longorligi Logarithyms and Other Poems, 1975, Ghana Publishing Corporation The Anthill in the Sea - verses and chants for children, 1988, Ghana Publishing Corporation The Rosetta Stone in the Meantime of Eternity, 1988 (yet to be published) Mandela the Spear, 1990 (yet to be published) cc Atukwei Okai You feign you feign you Feign you do so love me But the truth Is now like rain: He who sees not, Feels it on his skin, And with A deep paralyzing pain, Erodes away The still-wet walls of Our strong castles Built in my dreams, The terrible truth Is now like the sun – Where it is Not seen, it is felt; Skin of your words Show a telltale tail Scales blinding My eyes start to meltAtukwei Okai was born and educated in Ghana before traveling to Moscow where he obtained his M.A. (Litt.) from the Gorky Literary Institute in 1967. After returning to Ghana for a year, he was awarded a post-graduate scholarship from the University of Ghana to pursue his Master of Philosophy degree at the University of London. In 1968 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (U.K.) and from 1971 to 1991 he served as President of the Ghana Association of Writers. In 1989 he was elected the first Secretary-General of the Pan-African Writers' Association (PAWA) a position which he still holds today. Okai lectured in Russian literature at the University of Ghana from 1971 to 1984 when he joined the Institute of African Studies as a Senior Research Fellow in African Literature. He is presently the Head of Language, Literature and Drama Unit of the Institute. The Entertainment Critics and Reviewers Association of Ghana acknowledged his pioneering role in PAWA by presenting him in 1991 with their highest award, the Flagstar, which marked the first time in the 15-year history of ECRAG that the Flagstar award has gone to a writer. Okai's poems have been published in numerous anthologies and international journals such as The New African Okyeame, The New American Review, The Atlantic Monthly, Black World, and Literary Cavalcade, and have been translated into several languages. He has also performed his poems for radio, television and to live audiences in Africa, Europe, Canada, Australia, Russia, Japan and Vietnam. Okai has received 13 national and international awards, among them The President of the Republic of Ghana's Special Prize in 1960, the Iqbal Centenary Commemorative Gold Medal by the Government of Pakistan in 1979, and the International Lotus Prize and Gold Medal awarded in 1980 by the National Council for Research in Italy. The musicality of his poetry is attributed to the Northern ambience of Ghana, where he grew up, which is rich in music and music-dominated idioms. Prof Femi Osofisan of Nigeria declared in the Second Annual African Studies Lecture at Leeds University that "Okai was the first to try to take African poetry back to one of its primal origins, in percussion, by deliberately violating the syntax and lexicon of English, creating his own rhythms through startling phonetic innovations …" |
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 EDESSA RAMOS Philippines Publications: Alone on the Road at Night, 1999, Rex Oasis for Culture and the Arts Foundation Andreas two years old cc Edessa Ramos My days begin and end with you. In the morning when I turn my head and our noses touch, my fitful journey from the land of dreams is eased by the soft brush of your hair against my forehead, your breath that reminds me of the scent of coconut husks cut from trees on distant mountains sloping down to a gentle sea and as I open my eyes I behold my first gift for the day - your smile – I gather it carefully into my soul the way cupped hands gather rain, oh. your smile – soothing balm for one life that up until now had known only pain and like the silt of riverbanks washed away by the rush of love shining in your eyes dark as coal, bright as firelight, I remember That darkness never lasts forever. In the evening as the sun goes down I watch the way those locks of hair curl up and glow in the backlight reminding me of fresh harvests of corn and all the sunrays I have never known, and as the day sighs into its silent death and we prepare for night, no ghosts can subdue me now as I look forward to the hour when I awaken to your smile. Niederhasli |
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Angola Publications: Rites of Ticket, 1983, Ana Paula Ribeiro Tavares was born in Lubango, province of the Huíla, Angola, in 1952. After teaching for several years in Angola and researching the History of Angola, Tavares traveled to Lisbon to study for her Masters in African Literatures in the Portuguese Language, followed by her Doctorate in History of Africa. Ana Paula Tavares has been Director of Development at the Rainforest Alliance since May of 2000. Prior to this she was a founding partner at New Frontiers Group, a financial services group in São Paulo, Brazil, that promotes investment funds for bio- diversity, sustainable forestry, sustainable exploration of genetic resources, carbon sequestration and renewable energy, Tavares was also the Director of Science Development at the New York Botanical Garden where she raised funds for the organizations Science Division. Previously, she spent nine years in Membership, Development and Special Projects at the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance. She holds a BFA from Marymount Manhattan College in New York. Tavares is currently employed by the State Secretary for Culture, and is a member of the Union of Angolan Writers, the Angolan Comité of the International Advice of Museus, the Angolan Association of Ambiente, and the Angolan Commission of UNESCO. Ana Paula is one of the most important feminine voices in Angolan poetry in this present time. Her poetry has been influenced by the work of three Angolan poets, Davi Master, Arlindo Barbeitos and Rui Duarte de Carvalho, and the Brazilian poets Bandeira and Drummond. She writes of Angolan traditions and languages, love and war, sadness and Women. Her latest book, Idizes-me Coisas Amargas Como Os Frutos (You say to me bitter things like fruits) is still to be published. |
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 SHUNTARO TANIKAWA
Japan
Publications: (English translations) Two Billion Light-Years of Solitude 1952/1996,  A big fish with a big mouth is eating a smaller fish which is in turn eating a still smaller fish and the smaller fish is eating a tiny fish Life thrives on life shining Happiness feeds on unhappiness and blooms Every deep sea of joy contains at least one tear Shuntaro Tanikawa, winner of every significant award for literature in Japan and that country's foremost living poet, was born in 1931 in Tokyo, son of the distinguished philosopher Tetsuzo Tanikawa. By the age of 18 he was writing poetry and his first book of poems was published in 1952 to instant acclaim. Almost every year since then a new book of poetry by Tanikawa has appeared, totaling nearly 60 volumes of verse. But he does not limit himself to verse as he is also well known as a playwright, script writer for film, television and radio, and is also a video producer. He has translated into Japanese the Peanuts comic strips and also the Mother Goose rhymes (receiving an award for the latter). Eschewing haiku, Japan's traditional poetic form, Tanikawa writes a free verse filled with passion and curiosity on a broad range of subjects. Readers will be struck by his fascination with the Western culture - Charlie Brown, John Coltrane, |
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JAN KEES VAN de WERK
Netherlands Publications: Afrika verbeeld, 1992, Phaedon |
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Silamaka en Puloru, 2002, Elmar cc Jan Kees van de Werk shadow of stonethe path followed rosemary and grapes in low undergrowth left past oak tree up hill shut tight in stone time piled there even before it was lichen greying green butterflies ferns purple bloom garden warbler obeys its own rules of spice and honeycomb drenched time of then in now and later stone and shape found in knowing sun split shadows life sheltered under hard stoned roof and soft dawn |
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 the rapid dance of swallows over the Niger river, as also the shadows of life passing on the faces of people, and he always does this with infinite respect for the dignity and the integrity of the other. This is what his poetry is all about."
Back to Poetry Africa 2002
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Last updated on 19 Aug 2004 Original photography by: Val Adamson, Rafs Mayet, Precious Ngcobo, Jeeva Rajgopaul, Monica Rorvik, and Peter Rorvik
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Edessa Ramos was born and raised in Manila, finished her studies in Chicago, and currently lives in Zurich. Her work was published in various journals and magazines in the United States, including the Red Shoes Review and Riksha Asian American Journal in Chicago, Filipinas Magazine in San Francisco, and Filipino Martial Arts Magazine in New York. In Europe, her stories and essays appeared in the Ticking Along Free anthology, the Film Podium and Wendekreis Magazin in Switzerland, and in the Philippine Women’s Forum in Germany. In Asia, her work came out in the Caracoa Poetry Journal and various magazines in Manila, and the Star Quilt anthology in Bangalore, India. She has performed her poetry at the Guild Complex, Printers Row Book Fair, Poets Against the War and Art for Peace festivals in Chicago. She has written and directed stage plays for various theatres in Chicago and Zurich. Her first book, Alone on the Road at Night came out in 1999 in Manila. Her latest book, In A Quiet Place was published and launched in Durban in 2001 during the World Conference Against Racism.In her preface Edessa explains why her book was launched in South Africa: "South Africa is a country so amazing … it stirred images in my heart of the country that I had left long ago, … with its history of scars and struggles. The courageous and resilient people of South Africa, whose determination won them their freedom, brought me back into the arms of struggle. As a result, I found the courage to put together this collection of poems from the days of the Philippine revolution of the '80s." Her writing has been praised for reflecting the brave journey of her life, characterised by decades of constant moving, personal hardships and political struggle, but also of a courageous and wondering acceptance of life itself. 
Miles Davis and Oscar Hammerstein are among those with significant cameos in Tanikawa's work. He also displays a strong poetic connection to his American contemporaries, the Beat and Black Mountain poets, among them Robert Creeley, Allen Ginsberg, and Paul Blackburn. His latest collection, The Collected Poems of Shuntaro Tanikawa, which includes 19 titles in English translation, was released in 2000 on CD-Rom. Shuntaro Tanikawa has achieved a noteworthy level of popularity inside and outside Japan. Geoffrey O'Brien of the Village Voice points out that Tanikawa "is published in leading newspapers and interviewed in the equivalents of People and Cosmopolitan. His poetry receives critical praise and the kind of lavish editions reserved in America for the long deceased - and even they have to fight for it".
