Wole Soyinka, the first African to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature (and former FUUO Poet of the Week) has created and launched a new political party in Nigeria!
The Democratic Front for a People's Federation (http://www.dfpf.org/) is the name of the party and their goal is to improve health and education in Nigeria while battling corruption (good luck with that, pun intended?).
Now only time and research will tell how strong this party will be (or if Soyinka plans to run) but for now I just think its cool that such a literary figure such as Soyinka is officially (really his whole life has been part of the Nigeria's political landscape)entering into the political scene.
To put this into perspective for those not familiar with the 76 year old poet, it would be as if Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Walt Whitman, Maya Angelou or Emily Dickinson created a political party in the United States.
I wonder if he will use a speechwriter, or if he will continue to craft his own words...lines like:
This music's plaint forgives, redeems
The deafness of the world. Night turns
Homewards, sheathed in notes of solace, pleats
The broken silence of the heart.
http://wolesoyinka.blogspot.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment