ANA CELEBRATING AN ICON @ 80: PROGRAMMES UNVEILED IN HONOUR OF PROF. FEMI OSOFISAN

Come June 2026, Emeritus Professor Femi Osofisan will clock 80 years of age. Femi Osofisan is an internationally lauded playwright, scholar, poet, novelist, actor, director, songwriter, and activist, and currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA). 

He has had a distinguished academic career, having taught Drama at the University of Ibadan, where he mentored generations of theatre practitioners and scholars. Beyond academia, he has remained deeply engaged in directing plays, performing, writing reviews, poems, novels, and newspaper columns.

Osofisan has written and produced more than sixty plays, alongside five collections of poetry, four novels, and numerous essay collections. The very first ANA Literature Award in 1983 was conferred on him for Morountodun and Other Plays, while he later won another ANA award for drama with Yungba-Yungba and the Dance Contest in 1993. His poetry collection Minted Coins, published under the pseudonym Okinba Launko in 1987, won both the Regional Commonwealth Poetry Award for First Collection and the ANA Poetry Prize.

His long list of honours includes the Western Nigeria Broadcasting Service Prize for Independence Anniversary Essay, Officier de l’Ordre Nationale de Mérite (France, 1999), the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM) in the Humanities (2004), the Fonlon-Nichols Prize for Literature and Human Rights (2006), and Fellowship of the Nigerian Academy of the Arts. He was also a finalist for the prestigious Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2000.

Professor Osofisan has served the cultural sector in numerous capacities, including as General Manager and Chief Executive of the National Theatre, Lagos (1988–1990), President of PEN Nigeria (2004–2010), and drama consultant to national and international cultural initiatives such as MAMSER and the Cultural Olympiad linked to the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. His works have been staged globally, and he has held teaching and research engagements in countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America.

A founding member and literary editor of The Guardian newspaper’s pioneer editorial board, he also established CentreSTAGE–Africa and earlier edited the poetry chapbook Opon Ifa, which evolved into Opon Ifa Review. Among his prose works are Ma’ami, Abigail, Pirates of Hurt, and Cordelia, originally written as newspaper serials; Ma’ami was later adapted into a film in 2011. Many of his plays creatively reinterpret classical works, including Women of Owu (after Euripides’ Trojan Women) and Tegonni: An African Antigone.

In recognition of this towering legacy and his immense contributions to Nigerian, African, and global literature, the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) has earmarked a series of landmark programmes to celebrate his 80th Birthday Anniversary.

HIGHLIGHTS OF ANA’S PLANNED ACTIVITIES FOR OSOFISAN @ 80

GRAND LITERARY CELEBRATION (JUNE 2026)

The central commemorative event, titled Literary Celebration Marking the 80th Birthday of Emeritus Prof. Femi Osofisan, will take place in June 2026 in Ibadan. The gathering will bring together writers, scholars, theatre practitioners, students, and cultural stakeholders for readings, performances, scholarly reflections, and tributes examining Osofisan’s enduring influence on African dramaturgy, literary scholarship, and cultural activism.

MBARI LECTURE SERIES (SEPTEMBER 2026 EDITION)

The September edition of the prestigious Mbari Lecture Series will be dedicated entirely to Professor Osofisan and will hold in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The lecture will critically engage his dramaturgy, ideological commitments, and innovations in adapting classical forms to African socio-political realities.

COLLABORATIVE FESTSCHRIFT PUBLICATION WITH ORPHEUS FOUNDATION

ANA, in collaboration with the Orpheus Foundation, will publish a landmark Festschrift—a scholarly volume of essays, reflections, and critical studies celebrating Osofisan’s life, works, and intellectual impact across disciplines.

FEMI OSOFISAN @ 80 PLAYWRITING WORKSHOP

To nurture emerging voices, ANA will organise a specialised playwriting workshop for young dramatists. The workshop will transmit Osofisan’s aesthetics of socially engaged theatre, experimentation, and adaptation, ensuring continuity of his artistic philosophy.

FEMI OSOFISAN @ 80 PLAYWRITING COMPETITION

A national playwriting competition will invite new dramatic works inspired by themes central to Osofisan’s oeuvre—justice, resistance, community, and cultural memory. Winning entries will receive recognition and possible staging opportunities.

TRIBUTES BOOK IN HONOUR OF PROF. FEMI OSOFISAN AT 80

A commemorative Tributes Book will assemble messages, essays, memoirs, and artistic reflections from colleagues, former students, collaborators, and admirers worldwide, capturing the personal and professional reach of the literary icon.

ANA describes the Osofisan @ 80 celebration not merely as a birthday observance but as a national literary milestone—an opportunity to honour a dramatist whose work consistently interrogates power, amplifies the voices of the marginalised, and demonstrates the transformative role of art in society.

Members of ANA, the academic community, theatre professionals, students, and the general public are encouraged to watch out for announcements and actively participate in the programmes lined up throughout the celebratory year, as Nigeria and the world salute one of Africa’s most prolific and influential men of letters.

Signed:

DAME JOAN OJI PhD,

General Secretary 

Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA)