Ezenwa Ohaeto

Background

Ezenwa Ohaeto was born on March 31, 1959, in Ife, Nigeria to Michael Ogbonnaya Ohaeto, an Anglican church archdeacon, and Rebecca Ohaeto, a teacher.

Education

Ezenwa Ohaeto graduated from University of Nigeria, Nsukka with B.A. in 1979 and M.A. in 1982. He then received Ph.D. from University of Benin in 1991.

Career

Some of Ezenwa Ohaetos' most influential works are Winging Words, Interviews with Nigerian Writers and Critics, The Chants of a Minstrel. He was the author of an authorised biography of Chinua Achebe.

Ezenwa's books have been translated into Russian, French and Italian. His poetry has been performed in English and Igbo throughout the world. Ezenwa- Ohaeto has held various posts at the universities of Bayreuth, Mainz and the Humboldt University, Berlin, in Germany; and at the universities of Harvard, and Texas at Austin in the United States. He was also Professor of English at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nigeria. He died in 2005.

Achievements

• Ezenwa Ohaeto was a prominent author who received many prestigious awards, including the Association of Nigerian Authors Poetry Prize - for The Voice of the Night Masquerade, a BBC poetry prize, the Orphic Lute Prize and the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Prize.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Chinua Achebe: A Biography
  • Chants Of A Minstrel

Views

Ezenwa Ohaeto claimed that the foremost motivation in his work was "the desire to write and convey those ideas that I find relevant to the reader and entertain that reader in the process." The writer told that each piece of his creative work begins with an idea that might catch the attention of his subconscious mind. Eventually the idea "metamorphoses into a short story or phrase" that might later be used in a poem.

Membership

Ezenwa Ohaeto was a member of the organizations as PEN International, West African Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies, African Literature Association (United States), Association of Nigerian Authors, Literary Society of Nigeria, Commonwealth Society (France).

• PEN International , United Kingdom

• African Literature Association , United States

• Association of Nigerian Authors , Nigeria

• Literary Society of Nigeria , Nigeria

• Commonwealth Society , France

• West African Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies

Personality

Ezenwa Ohaeto was fond of sports and traveling.

Interests

• Sports, traveling.

Connections

Ezenwa Ohaeto married Florence Ngozi on November 10, 1990. They had four children: Chinualum, Nnedi, Onyedika, Uchechukwu.

Father:

Michael Ogbonnaya Ohaeto

Mother:

Rebecca Ohaeto

Spouse:

Florence Ngozi

child:

Chinualum Ohaeto

child:

Nnedi Ohaeto

child:

Onyedika Ohaeto

child:

Uchechukwu Ohaeto

References

• Contemporary Authors New Revision: A Bio-Bibliographical Guide to Current Writers in Fiction, General Nonfiction, Poetry, Journalism, Drama, Motion Pictures, Television, and Other Fields: 178
• Of Minstrelsy and Masks: The Legacy of Ezenwa-Ohaeto in Nigerian Writing This collection is dedicated to a distinguished scholar and writer who for a quarter of a century wrote consistently on African literature and the arts and was a major voice in Nigerian literary circles. Ezenwa-Ohaeto made a mark in contemporary Nigerian poetry by committing pidgin to written form and, by so doing, introducing different creative patterns. He also saw himself as a 'minstrel', as someone who wanted to read, express and enact his work before an audience. First and foremost, however, Ezenwa-Ohaeto was someone who 'un-masked' ideas and meanings hidden in the folds of literary works and made them available to an international academic public. With his outstanding work on Chinua Achebe, he influenced the reception of African literary biography. His networks and connections were extensive and wide-ranging, and they are partly reflected in the essays, creative writing and personal notes assembled in this volume. In their various modes and expressions, the contributions included here constitute a tribute to Ezenwa Ohaeto's many talents and achievements.