Endless tears for Awoonor

 

 Nigerian writers join their international colleagues in mourning the late Ghanaian poet and diplomat, Professor Kofi Awoonor

NIGERIAN writers and literary organizations have continued to mourn the slain poet and diplomat, Professor Kofi Awoonor, killed last weekend by Somali Al-Shabab extremists during an attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya.

The 78-year-old Ghanaian poet was in Kenya as a speaker in the Storymoja Hay Festival, a four-day event featuring writing, thinking and storytelling. He had taken a master class in poetry at the beginning of the festival and was billed to perform on the evening he was killed.

Since news of his death broke and was confirmed by Ghanaian authorities, international writers, poets and festival organizers have been paying tribute to the bard whose poetry was influenced by the oral traditions of his native Ewe ethnic nationality. His remains were flown back to Ghana during the week while his burial has been fixed for November. Below are tributes from Nigerian writers and a literary organization.

Tragedy in our Republic of Letters 
“They say no news is good news and on 21 September 2013 they were right. It was awful, awful news to learn that Kofi Awoonor had been murdered by terrorists while shopping at a mall with his son in Kenya. Such a man dying such a death is such a heartbreaking tragedy. We grew fond of Kofi Awoonor, born Kofi Awoonor-Williams, poet and novelist who wrote in English the nuanced elegies of the Ewe tongue. His poetry particularly made him famous around Africa for their haunting references to the roles of human agency in causing sorrow. Indeed, Awoonor’s most famous poem, ‘Songs of Sorrow’, begins: ‘Dzogbese Lisa has treated me thus...’

“Awoonor was also an academic and a diplomat. His forays into politics were not always without repercussions but on the whole he served his homeland with credit.

“A lot of people died at the hands of al-shabab terrorists at the Westgate mall but Awoonor’s death reverberated around the world. In what is now seen as a diplomatic incident against our Republic of Letters, one of Africa’s best was sacrificed on the altar of extreme ideology. This act will not go unremarked, will not fade into oblivion, will be revisited in measured response against the perpetrators in time to come.

“Africa will not forget her own; her children will forever remember this forced exit of an ancestor as an affront against our civil heritage of reason and goodwill. Those who killed Awoonor have only strengthened African resolve to rid our continent of terror and terrorists, because we love our ancestors, always have, always will.” -Tade Ipadeola, President, PEN Nigeria Centre. Follow him @tadepen.

I was captivated by his humility
“Like many important writers, I had met Kofi Awoonor through his works several years before I actually met him in person. And when I finally I did in 2008 in Accra, Ghana during one of the activities of the Pan African Writers Association (PAWA), I was captivated by his literary dexterity and humility. For more than 30 minutes, he held the audience spell bound with his elegant poetic rendition.

“That same year, we were to meet again at the Garden City Literary Festival in Port Harcourt where he again gave good account of himself.

“Now that he has left us even though in very tragic circumstances, our solace is that his work will continue to live after him. My heartfelt condolences go to his family, his associates and the literary family at large. May his gentle soul continue to rest in peace, amen.” –Dr. Wale Okediran, former National President, Association of Nigerian Authors.

It’s a terrible shock
“The death of Professor Kofi Awoonor in the Nairobi mall shooting is a terrible shock. I mean a shock not only in the sense of an individual, but a real culture-shock. I join all peoples across the world to sympathise deeply with all the bereaved for this irreparable loss. I also condemn terrorists and terrorism anywhere. Along this line, it is a rude blow on our civilisation to have an African literary titan and cultural institution wasted by these bandits of the most depraved character.

“I read some of his works in the secondary school when he was writing under the name Awoonor Williams. His works in the area of African oral literature influenced some of my plays, especially those in which I experiment on the dramatic elements of oral performance. I am talking about those three old oral poets featured in his anthology, ‘Guardians of the Sacred Word’.

“He was a citizen of the world with a great passion and love for Africa hence his feeling more comfortable with the ancestral name, Kofi Awoonor. In his research, he also highlighted the historical connection between his Ewe ethnic nationality in Ghana and the Yoruba of western Nigeria. So, you can see why his works inspire on a pan-African scale and beyond. I know he has written his way into immortality, but the nature of his death in the hands of the bigoted Al-Shabab brutes is a rude shock. But it should strengthen our collective will to wipe out the savagery represented by these terrorists in the name of religion.”-Ben Tomoloju, playwright and culture activist 

His memories are untainted 
“Members and friends of the Rainbow Book Club mourn one of Africa’s outstanding sons, Kofi Awoonor - poet, author, diplomat and victim of a senseless siege on innocent people at the Westgate Mall.

“Ambassador Awoonor last visited Nigeria as a guest writer at the maiden edition of the Garden City Literary Festival (now Port Harcourt Book Festival) held at the University of Port Harcourt in 2008.  As a major writer to the festival, alongside Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka and Captain Elechi Amadi, Awonoor addressed an auditorium filled with enthusiastic students, staff and guests at the university. In the course of the four-day festival, he also sat in at a symposium organized by the English Department of Uniport. Awonoor facilitated a Master Class and also fielded questions at a Meet-the-Author session attended by over 200 literary enthusiasts.

“Awonoor’s book, The House by the Sea, a collection of poems, was one of the books of the Festival at the Garden City Literary Festival 2008. Visitors at the festival took to Awonoor almost immediately thanks to the winning combination of his personable and humble character. They huddled around him at the end to get his autographs; the signed books now remain a testament to his presence at the event and in their lives.

“The Rainbow Book Club mourns his passing deeply and sends prayers out to his loved ones. The final event of this year’s festival, a jazz and poetry evening on October 26 will serve as an evening of tribute to Awoonor.” –Rainbow Book Club, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.