The untimely death of renowned poet, author, academic and diplomat, Prof. Kofi Awoonor has left a vacuum that will be difficult to fill, writes CHUX OHAI
As more tributes pour in for the slain Ghanaian poet and diplomat, Prof. Kofi Awoonor, his body is expected to arrive in Accra, capital of Ghana, today.
Awoonor, who was also a former Ghanaian Ambassador to the United Nations, had taught at the University of Ghana, Legon and the University of Cape Coast at different times in his career.
The poet, who clocked 78 in March, was due to perform one of his recent poems at the four-day Storymoja Hay Festival in Nairobi, Kenya, a few hours before he was killed in a shocking terrorist attack on a popular shopping mall in the city.
So far, reports say that the attack, believed to be masterminded by Al-Qaeda in collaboration with the Somali-based Islamist group known as Al-Shabaab, has claimed about 68 lives and left several others wounded.
One of the injured victims is a son of the late poet, who had joined his father from an unnamed West African country. Both of them reportedly arrived Westgate Mall at the same time as the attack began. While the elder Awoonor died in the mayhem, his son was shot in the shoulder and was eventually rescued from hiding by Kenyan security forces.
Celebrated mostly for his literary works, which were published between 1964 and 1992, Awoonor was born in Ghana when it was still called the Gold Coast. He was educated at Achimota School, from where he proceeded to the University of Ghana where he later taught African literature.
While at the University of Ghana, he wrote his first poetry book titled, Rediscovery. Published in 1964, the book, like most of his works, is based on African oral poetry.
He managed the Ghana Film Corporation and founded the Ghana Play House. Initially writing under the pen name, George Awoonor-Williams, he combined the poetic traditions of his native Ewe and contemporary and religious symbolism to depict Africa during decolonisation. His early works, no doubt, were inspired by the singing and verse of the Ewe people.
Awoonor studied literature at the University of London, and during his stay in England, he wrote several radio plays for the British Broadcasting Corporation. He spent the early 1970s in the United States, studying and teaching at universities.
While in the USA, he wrote This Earth, My Brother, and My Blood. In 1975, he returned to Ghana as head of the English department at the University of Cape Coast. Within a few months, he was arrested for helping a soldier accused of plotting to overthrow the military government and was imprisoned without trial. He was later released.
One of Awoonor’s celebrated collections of poems, The house by the Sea focuses on his experiences in jail.
After leaving prison, Awoonor veered into politics. He was politically active for a long time and this influenced him to write mostly nonfiction. From 1990 to 1994, he was Ghana’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, where he headed the committee against apartheid. He was also a former Chairman of the Council of State.
However, until his sad end last Saturday, Awoonor did not stop writing poetry. One of his new poems, collected in a book titled Promises of Hope: New and Selected Poems, edited by Kofi Anyidoho, and published by the University of Nebraska Press and the African Poetry Book Fund, is due to be released in 2014.
The late poet’s earlier works include three collections of poetry titled, Rediscovery and Other Poems, Night of My Blood, The House By the Sea, which were published in 1964, 1971 and 1978 respectively. His novels include, This Earth, My Brother, a cross between a novel and a poem published in 1971; and Comes the Voyager at Last, which was published in 1992.
Between 1975 and 1990, the writer published The Breast of the Earth: A Survey of the History, Culture, and Literature of Africa South of the Sahara; and Ghana: A Political History from Pre-European to Modern Times.
Awoonor’s death has been described as saddening, especially at a time the rest of Africa is celebrating and reflecting on the works and dreams of late Ghanaian statesman and Pan Africanist, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. His death leaves a vacuum that will be hard to fill.
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