Osayimwense Osa

Background

Son of Johnson Nagbare (a head postmaster) and Osaruyi (a homemaker; maiden name, Da Silva) Osa, Mr. Osa was born in Benin City, Nigeria, on June 27, 1951.

Education

Osayimwense Osa attended Ahmadu Bello University, between 1969 and 1973. In 1978 he finished University of New Brunswick earning his Master of Arts. In 1981 Mr. Osa obtained Doctor of Education from University of Houston.

Career

Mr. Osa held the post of a senior lecturer in curriculum and instruction at Bendel State University (now Ambrose Alli University), Epoma, Nigeria, from 1983 till 1984, and in languages and literature from 1984-1989. Since 1990 he served as a visiting professor of English at Georgia State University, Atlanta. He acted as an associate professor of English at Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta, between 1990 and 1995. Starting from 1995 Mr. Osa joined the staff of Mississippi Valley State University, Itta Bena, MS, working as a professor of English, and at the same year he was appointed department head.

He has been a contributor of articles and reviews to scholarly journals, including World Literature Written in English, Journal of Reading, Research in African Literatures, African Studies Review, Journal of Research in Childhood Education, and International Review of Children’s Literature and Librarianship.

Achievements

• Osayimwense Osa is notable for his books and numerous articles for various periodicals. He was the founder and editor of Journal of African Children’s and Youth Literature in 1989.

Works

More photos

• book

  • World Authors Series: African Children's and Youth Literature

    (In this colorful, lively analysis of selected African lit...)

  • The Bride Price: An African Feminist Young Adult Novel

    (The Bride Price - An African feminist young adult novel i...)

  • The All White World of Children's Books and African American Children's Literature 1995
  • Nigerian youth literature: A critical analysis of ten selected novels 1987

Views

Quotations: "I strongly believe that children’s and young adult literature is a legitimate area of literary study, although it is also studied in education and library science departments. It would be unreasonable not to treat it as literature, and it would be uncommonly daft to look down on it simply because of the name ‘children’s literature."

"The serious study of children’s and youth literature has been neglected for too long in some cultures, especially in Africa. It is the yawning gap in the criticism of African children’s literature that my studies and research attempt to fill."

Membership

• Modern Language Association of America , United States

• National Council of Teachers of English

• African Studies Association

• African Literature Association

Connections

Osayimwense Osa married Justina Idemudia, a librarian, on July 10, 1976. The couple has four children: Osaguona, Osazuwa, Ewere, Etin.

Father:

Johnson Nagbare Osa

Mother:

Osaruyi (Da Silva) Osa

child:

Osaguona Osa

child:

Osazuwa Osa

child:

Ewere Osa

child:

Etin Osa

Wife:

Justina Idemudia