Literature & Ideas
Landmark
J. P. Clark
1935 – 2020
Poet and dramatist of the first Nigerian generation
Landmark is level 2 of 4 in the Nigeria Hall of Fame: a first that opened a door, or the pre-eminent figure of their generation in this country. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
Song of a Goat opened at the Mbari Club in 1961, and America, Their America is still the sharpest thing any Nigerian has written about the United States.
John Pepper Clark was born at Kiagbodo in April 1935 and read English at the University of Ibadan, where he edited the Beacon and the Horn — the student magazine that first printed Christopher Okigbo.
His plays include Song of a Goat (1961), which premiered at the Mbari Club, The Masquerade, The Raft and Ozidi; his poetry Poems, A Reed in the Tide, Casualties and A Decade of Tongues; and his prose America, Their America and The Example of Shakespeare. He was professor of English at the University of Lagos until 1980, and held visiting chairs at Yale and Wesleyan. He died in October 2020.
His plays include Song of a Goat (1961), which premiered at the Mbari Club, The Masquerade, The Raft and Ozidi; his poetry Poems, A Reed in the Tide, Casualties and A Decade of Tongues; and his prose America, Their America and The Example of Shakespeare. He was professor of English at the University of Lagos until 1980, and held visiting chairs at Yale and Wesleyan. He died in October 2020.
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