Kofi Anyidoho
University of Ghana
Bi-lingual poet, literary scholar, educator, cultural activist Kofi Anyidoho is professor of literature and director, CODESRIA African Humanities Institute Programme, University of Ghana.
Talk Information:
The Impact and Implications of Doing Some of my Poetry (and Children's Drama) in Ewe.
September 17, 2021 | 9:00 AM
Associated Edited Volumes: 12
In an earlier essay, I paid tribute to my ability to read important classics of world literature in Ewe translations while I was in primary and middle school. In particular, I recalled that I first read Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Moliere, classic Greek and Arabic tales, etc. translated into Ewe long before I encountered them in English. This was how I became a life-long lover of literature. Somehow, though, when I began creative writing, I was persuaded into believing that in order for my work to reach a wider world, I needed to write in English. My presentation today begins with an assertion that much of what I write in English, is in fact a case of bilingual creative writing, and that this is true of the work of many other African writers
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