by Richard Joseph, Professor Emeritus
W. Soyinka and R. Joseph, The Carter Center, December 1994
On October 2nd, an online conversation was conducted by the Program of African Studies of Northwestern University between Professor Chris Abani and Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka. It was the resumption of a conversation between the two writers and scholars at the New York Public Library in November 2019. In response to a request from Prof. Abani, I agreed to prepare remarks on my “relationship to Soyinka and his work from any angle: personal, academic, or a mix of both.” The composition of this narrative involved more than I anticipated. Moreover, a technical problem prevented it from being posted prior to the event.
The initial essay follows a summary of the online conversation.
Read the whole essay, available here.