Tanure Ojaide, poet, fiction writer, scholar and the Frank Porter Graham Professor of Africana Studies at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, has just participated in the 23rd International Poetry Festival, Medellin, Colombia, from July 6 through 13. He was one of five poets from Africa invited to the poetry festival. Other poets came from South America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. The other African poets at the Festival were: Werewere Liking (Ivory Coast/Cameroon), Gabriel Okoundji (Congo Brazzaville), Zolani Mkiva (South Africa), and Achour Fenni (Algeria). The theme of the poetry festival - "Myth and Utopia", was dedicated to 1000 years of Peace in Colombia to underscore the violence which has been plaguing the country for decades. The International Poetry Festival of Medellin takes place every year since 1991, gathering numerous poets in talks, lectures, and readings. Medellin, known as "the City of Eternal Spring," is Colombia's second largest city.
Ojaide's activities at the poetry festival included daily readings at different venues in Medellin -the Universidad de Antioquia and Museo de Antioquia - and in towns such as Santo Domingo and Tarso. His poems, like those of others, were translated into Spanish. A Colombian Spanish-speaking reader, David Ocampo, read Ojaide's poems in Spanish after he performed each one in English.
One of the highlights of the International Poetry Festival was the reading to the public and later presentation of a "Collective Statement" by the African and Haitian poets—Tanure Ojaide, Werewere Liking, Gabriel Okoundji, Mkiva, and Josaphat-Robert Large - to the Director of the Festival, Fernando Rendon. Ojaide read the message and did the presentation on behalf of the African poets at the Festival. The "Statement" dated July 9, 2013 reads thus:
On behalf of the African poets participating in the International Poetry Festival, Medellin, Colombia, we thank Fernando Rendon and the people of Colombia for the warm welcome accorded to us.
Today it is not as Nigerian, Ivorian/Cameroonian, Congolese, or South African that we speak but as the collective voice of Africa. We appreciate the respect for our Nelson Mandela and the wish for his recovery at the opening ceremony of the Festival. Even though we, Africans and Colombians, are ocean apart, we share similar experiences. These experiences range from the same history, including slavery connections that informed the Palenqueros and Benkos Bioho, to culture with the deep sense of hospitality, and familiar vegetation, fruits, and others. We hope that one day, in return, we would invite Colombian poets to poetry and other literary festivals in Africa. We fervently wish to extend the dream of one thousand years of peace conceived for Colombia to the rest of the world.
Tanure Ojaide's poems, "Remembering" and "The Cows of Mt. San Angelo" are published in English and Spanish in Revista de Poesia Prometeo: Memoria del 23 Festival Internacional de Poesia de Medelli, the official publication of the poetry festival.
"I have attended many international poetry festivals before," Ojaide says, "but this is…the biggest poetry festival in the world, bringing poets from all the regions of the globe. There is exhilaration when the poet connects with an enthusiastic audience of about three thousand. It is one of the best 'beauties' I have seen."
Tanure Ojaide's most recent poetry work is Love Gifts (New York: African Heritage Press, 2013).
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