Professor Omotayo Oloruntoba-Oju teaches in the Department of English Studies, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria. With close to three decades of teaching literature at University of Ilorin and Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Professor Omotayo Oloruntoba-Oju’s several academic papers straddle African Drama & Cinema, Caribbean Literature, African American Literature, among others. As the pioneer and current Director of Ajasin Varsity Theatre (AVT), she has equally directed a number of Convocation plays for the institution, some of which include Once Upon Four Robbers, Morountodun, Esu and the Vagabond Minstrels, all by Femi Osofisan, Aikin Mata (The Lysistrata of Aristophanes), translated and adapted by T.W. Harrison and James Simmons, and Ola Rotimi’s Kurunmi. Besides these, she has to her directorial credits many Command Performances and other theatre productions, some of which include Wole Soyinka’s The Trials of Brother Jero & The Lion and the Jewel, Rasheed Gbadamosi’s Behold My Redeemer, Femi Osofisan’s Birthdays Are Not for Dying & A Restless Run of Locusts, Ola Rotimi’s Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again, Grip Am & The gods are not to blame, Wale Ogunyemi’s Eniyan, Ahmed Yerima’s Ajagunmale, Zulu Sofola’s Tales by Moonlight etc. A former Head of Department of English Studies at Adekunle Ajasin University, Prof. Oloruntoba-Oju is a member of Association of Nigerian Authors. As part of a series of activities marking Professor Oloruntoba-Oju’s 50th birthday, we are currently seeking poems that celebrate her ideological vision, commitment, and consistency, her vibrant contributions to the critical reception of African and African Diaspora Literature, and her selflessness in transforming lives in the academia. We will appreciate poems that are rooted in African oral tradition, postcolonial politics and democracy, freedom, justice, love, and gender issues. The basic rules for submission include the following: 1. Language: English only 2. Each poem submitted must not be more than 50 lines 3. No more than three poems can be submitted 4. Indicate appropriately when and where first published, in case the poem(s) submitted have previously been published 5. Provide brief biographical information about yourself 6. Poems submitted must be original as plagiarized poems will be disqualified 7. All contributions should be sent to [email protected] 8. The deadline for all submissions is March 30, 2016. The anthology will be co-edited by Sola Owonibi and Daniel Ajayi, both of the Department of English Studies, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko.
