Atukwei Okai

Atukwei Okai
BornAtukwei John Okai
(1941-03-15)15 March 1941
Accra, Ghana
Died13 July 2018(2018-07-13) (aged 77)
Accra, Ghana
NationalityGhanaian
EducationGorky Literary Institute (Moscow);
School of Slavonic and East European Studies (London)
SpouseBeatrice Okai
Children5 daughters

Atukwei John Okai (15 March 1941[1] – 13 July 2018)[2] was a Ghanaian poet, cultural activist and academic.[3] He was Secretary-General of the Pan African Writers' Association, and a president of the Ghana Association of Writers. His early work was published under the name John Okai. With his poems rooted in the oral tradition,[4] he is generally acknowledged to have been the first real performance poet to emerge from Africa,[5] and his work has been called "also politically radical and socially conscious, one of his great concerns being Pan-Africanism".[citation needed] His performances on radio and television worldwide include an acclaimed 1975 appearance at Poetry International at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, where he shared the stage with US poets Stanley Kunitz and Robert Lowell, and Nicolás Guillén of Cuba.[6]

  1. ^ "Uhuru Magazine, Volume 4". Uhuru Communications Limited. 1992. Archived from the original on 17 July 2018. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  2. ^ "Prof Atukwei Okai has died". Myjoyonline.com. 13 July 2018.
  3. ^ "Profile of the late Prof Atukwei Okai". mobile.ghanaweb.com. 14 July 2018. Archived from the original on 14 July 2018. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
  4. ^ Ernest Dela Aglanu, "We were rapping before rap came – Prof. Atukwei Okai" Archived 18 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Myjoyonline, 20 March 2011 (via Modern Ghana).
  5. ^ Governors Archived 18 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Millennium Excellence Foundation.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Biography was invoked but never defined (see the help page).