Event to celebrate work of Nobel Prize-winning poet

LAWRENCE — An event featuring poetry, dance and live music will celebrate the life and work of Akinwande Oluwole “Wole” Soyinka, Nigerian playwright and poet. “African Literature in Rhythmic Cadence: Wole Soyinka @ 80” will take place at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 15, in the Hawks Nest at the Kansas Union.

Soyinka was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature and was the first African to be honored. He is an outspoken critic of oppressive regimes, including past military dictatorships in Nigeria. 

The event will include readings by students and KU faculty members Omofolabo Ajayi-Soyinka, theatre and  women, gender & sexuality studies; Giselle Anatol, English; Nicole Hodges Persley, theatre, and Peter Ukpokodu, theatre and African & African-American studies. Featured musicians are the Rev. Brandon McCray, a gospel saxophonist and a doctoral candidate in music, and esteemed Bay Area saxophonist Howard Wiley, who has worked with Amiri Baraka and The Last Poets.

The event is co-sponsored by the Kansas African Studies Center, the Center for Global & International Studies, the Department of African & African-American Studies and the Department of Theatre.