USA Africa Dialogue Series - Palaver and Dem Say: Interviews with Five African Writers & Interviews with Eight Nigerian Writers

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Cafeafricana Proudly Presents:

Palaver: Interviews with Five African Writers in Texas: Editor Bernth Lindors (1972)

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Dem-Say: Interviews with Eight Nigerian Writers: Editor Bernth Lindfors (1974)

 Palaver: Interviews with Five African Writers in Texas: By Bernth Lindfors

Chinua Achebe, John Pepper Clark, Dennis Brutus, Ezekiel Mphahlele, and Kofi Awoonor

Publisher: African and Afro-American Studies and Research Center, the University of Texas a (1972)

Interviewer: Bernth Lindfors (1972)

Excerpts:

You said you wanted your poetry to be easily understood by bus driver, the man on the street, and so on. Wouldn't protest poetry permit you to communicate directly with such people:

Dennis Brutus: Well, I suppose one answer to that is you can't write poetry about anything you don't feel poetic about. If it doesn't take flight, if it doesn't get off the ground, if you don't feel that you've got a certain tension, a certain singing quality-well, you might even want to do it, but it won't come off. Infact, I think I've written some like that and thrown them away because I felt they hadn't come off.

 

 Dem-Say: Interviews with Eight Nigerian Writers: By Bernth Lindfors

Michael J.C. Echeruo, Obi Egbuna, Cyprian Ekwensi, John Munonye, Gabriel Okara, Kole Omotoso, Ola Rotimi and Kalu Uka

Publisher: African and Afro-American Studies and Research Center, the University of Texas a (1974)

:Interviewer: Bernth Lindfors (1974)

Excerpts:

Do you see any new trends developing in Nigerian Drama?

Ola Rotimi: I don't know. Perhaps it is premature to make any prognosis on the future of Nigerian drama. But, I believe drama, like any artistic venture, is alive, and being alive presupposes a process of mutation and growth. I think drama in Nigerian won't be static.