The Nigerian Poet and Scholar, Professor Harry Garuba, Dies at 61.

Professor Harry Garuba died on the 28 February, 2020, in South Africa, “following a long illness”, according to Premium Times Ng.

The professor, who was born in Akure, Nigeria in 1958, obtained three degrees—M.A., B.A., and PhD—in English from the University of Ibadan; between 1981 and 1997, he lectured English in the university. In 2001, he joined the University of Cape Town, where he became a full professor in 2008.

A poet, his first book of poems was Shadow & Dream & Other Poems, published in 1991, and the most recent was Animal Chants, published in 2017. He also published scholarly works and edited anthologies, some of which include: Mask and Meaning in Black Drama: Africa and the Diaspora (1988); Voices from the Fringe: An ANA Anthology of New Nigerian Poetry (1988). Added to these are over 40 critical articles. Africa is A Country tweeted that he is “one of the finest professors of African Studies and English.”

Recently, the Guardian published a poem by Professor Harry Garuba, “Leaving home at 10”, as Poem of the Week. Click here to read the poem.

May his soul rest in perfect peace.