ABSTRACT
Dr. Tanure Ojaide is one of Nigeria's and Africa's leading poets and scholars. In this interview, he discusses his early introduction to writing, his college years, the role of the African writer and the function of literature. This interview examines his work in the last four decades. A poet recognized in Africa for his numerous awards and scholarly publications, Ojaide furnishes Okoro with information about his childhood, his formative years as a student at the prestigious University of Ibadan, and his numerous volumes of poetry. Given that the environment of the Niger Delta region, Ojaide's homeland is always described as a character and place of significance in his poems; he combs the history of his homeland and attempts to situate his voice as a representative sampler of the spokesman advocating for justice in his community. With oil exploitation in Nigeria's Niger Delta region still a major problem with both local and global implication, Ojaide discusses this issue, among others relevant issues pertinent to human conditions and social injustices, in this in-depth interview that covers both personal and public aspects of the poet/scholar's work.
