Zulu Sofola

Zulu Sofola (22 June 1935 – 5 September 1995)[1] was the first published female Nigerian playwright and dramatist.[2] Sofola was also a university teacher and became the first female Professor of Theater Arts in Africa.

Biography

Nwazuluwa Onuekwuke Sofola[3] was born in the former Bendel State to Nwaugbade Okwumabua and Chief Ogana Okwumabua who were Igbo from Issele-Uku, Aniocha North Local Government Area, presently in Delta State. She attended Federal Government Primary School in Asaba and the Baptist Girls High School in Agbor all in Delta State. Due to her outstanding performance in school, she was awarded a scholarship to complete her high school education in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.[4] Spending her adolescence and early womanhood in the US, she studied at Southern Baptist Seminary, earned a BA in English at Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia in 1959. She obtained her MA in Drama (Play writing and Production) from The Catholic University of America in Washington DC in the year 1965.[1] She returned to Nigeria in 1966, and became a lecturer in the Department of Theatre Arts at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, where she obtained a PhD in Theatre Arts (Tragic Theory) in 1977.[5]

Career

Her plays "range from historical tragedy to domestic comedy and use both traditional and modern African setting".[6] She uses "elements of magic, myth and ritual to examine conflicts between traditionalism and modernism in which male supremacy persists."[7] She was considered one of the most distinguished women in Nigerian literature.[8] She remains a source of inspiration to young African writers. Sofola's most frequently performed plays are Wedlock of the Gods (1972) and The Sweet Trap (1977),[7] She died in 1995 at the age of 60.

Achievements
  • Scholarly awards and distinctions both nationally and internationally.[9]
  • Recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship.[10]
  • Represented Nigeria at the first International Women Playwrights Conference.[11]

Selected works
  • The Deer Hunter and The Hunter's Pearl (1969), London: Evans Brothers.[12]
  • The Disturbed Peace of Christmas (1971), Ibadan: Daystar Press.[12][13]
  • Wedlock of the Gods (1972), Ibadan: Evans.[14]
  • The Operators, Ibadan: Ibadan University, 1973.
  • King Emene: Tragedy of a Rebellion (1974), Heinemann Educational Books. ISBN 0-435-92860-0
  • The Wizard of Law (1975), Evans Bros. ISBN 0-237-49951-7
  • The Sweet Trap (1977); Ibadan: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-575386-0
  • Old Wines Are Tasty (1981), Ibadan: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-154-499-6
  • Memories in the Moonlight (1986), Ibadan: Evans Brothers.[15]
  • Queen Omu-ako of Oligbo, Buffalo: Paul Robeson Theatre, 1989.[16]
  • Eclipso and the Fantasia, Illorin, Nigeria: 1990.[17]
  • The Showers, Illorin, Nigeria: 1991.[18]
  • Song of a Maiden: A Play, Illorin, Nigeria: Heinemann, 1992.
  • Lost Dreams and Other Plays, Ibadan: Heinemann, 1992.[18]

Further reading

References
  1. Biography Archived 2013-03-30 at the Wayback Machine, ′Zulu Sofola official website.
  2. "Nigeria's female writers have arrived" Archived May 25, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Sun newspaper (Nigeria), 11 December 2005.
  3. Ifeanyi Iyegbu, "Nwazuluwa Onuekwuke Sofola", Issele-Uku Association of North America.
  4. 5716427. "Sun 18 May 2014". Issuu. Retrieved 2021-01-23.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. "Zulu Sofola". ZODML. 2014-09-23. Retrieved 2021-01-23.
  6. Margaret Busby, Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent, London: Jonathan Cape, 1992, p. 450.
  7. "Sofola, Zulu", in Martin Banham, Errol Hill & George Woodyard (eds), The Cambridge Guide to African & Caribbean Theatre, Cambridge University Press, 1994; p. 82.
  8. Africa Database Archived October 17, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  9. Woman.NG (2017-12-23). "First Women: Zulu Sofola - The First Female Professor Of Theatre Arts In Africa". Woman.NG. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  10. "bookshy: 56 Years of Nigerian Literature: 'Zulu Sofola". bookshy. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  11. Fitzsimmons, Linda (May 1989). "First Women Playwrights Conference". New Theatre Quarterly. 5 (18): 123–123. doi:10.1017/s0266464x00003018. ISSN 0266-464X.
  12. "Nigeria—The Challenge of (and for) the Female Playwright". Critical Stages/Scènes critiques. 2017-06-25. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  13. Eni, Kenneth Efakponana (2012). "Zulu Sofola and the Nigerian Theatre Influences and Traditions". Creative Artist: A Journal of Theatre and Media Studies: 154–169. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  14. Fuchs, Anne (1999). New Theatre in Francophone and Anglophone Africa: A Selection of Papers Held at a Conference in Mandelieu, 23-26 June, 1995. Rodopi. ISBN 978-90-420-0725-3.
  15. Sofola, Zulu. (1986). Memories in the moonlight. Ibadan: Evans Brothers. ISBN 978-978-167-176-0.
  16. "PAUL ROBESON THEATRE NOISY 'QUEEN OMU-AKO' OFFERS A LOOK AT WEST AFRICAN CULTURE". The Buffalo News. 1989-05-03. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
  17. "SOFOLA, 'Zulu". Encyclopedia.com. 29 May 2020. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  18. Publications, Europa (2003). International Who's Who of Authors and Writers 2004. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-1-85743-179-7.
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