Osundare @ 60

THE COMMITTEE FOR RELEVANT ART (FRIENDS OF THE ARTS,LAGOS) ON MARCH 11, 2007 AT THE NATIONAL THEATRE,LAGOS COLLABORATED WITH THE ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIANAUTHORS (LAGOS) TO STAGE THE 5TH EDITION OF THE PERIODIC ARTHOUSE FORUM IN HONOUR OF THE POET LAUREATE, PROF NIYI OSUNDARE WHO WAS 60 ON MARCH 12.

THE FORUM WAS THE SECOND EVENT IN THE SERIES LINED UP TO HONOUR THE POET AND TEACHER CURRENTLY WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW ORLEANS, USA.

Niyi Osundare was born in Ikere-Ekiti in 1946 and gained degrees at the University of Ibadan (BA), the University of Leeds (MA) and York University, Canada(Ph.D.). He was head of English at the University ofIbadan, but currently of the University of NewOrleans. A prolific poet, he published Songs of theMarketplace, his first book, in 1983. Some of his other collections include Village Voices (1984), The Eye of the Earth (1986), Moonsongs (1988), Midlife(1993), Waiting Laughters (1990), and Selected Poems(1992). Since 1985 he has published his poems in theNigerian newspapers, starting with the series 'Songs of the Season' in the Nigerian Tribune. He has won prestigious international literary prizes: The Eye of the Earth won a Commonwealth Poetry Prize and Waiting Laughters won the Noma Award. His latest collection is entitled Tender Moments, which represents the first comprehensive collection of Romantic poems by a poet who has been variously critiqued as subtly combative and political.