Bankole Ajibabi Omotoso (born 21 April 1943), also known as Kole Omotoso, is a
Nigerian
Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...
writer and intellectual best known for his works of fiction and in South Africa as the "Yebo Gogo man" in adverts for the telecommunications company
Vodacom
Vodacom Group Limited is a South-Western African mobile communications company, providing voice, messaging, data and converged services to over 55 million customers. From its roots in South Africa, Vodacom has grown its operations to include n ...
.
His written work is known for its dedication and commitment to fusing a socio-political reappraisal of
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
and respect for human dignity into most of his works.
Early life and education
Kole Omotoso was born into a
Yoruba
The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...
family in
Akure
Akure is a city in south-western Nigeria. It is the capital and largest city of Ondo State. The city had a population of 403,000 as at the 2006 population census.
History
Pre 1914
Rock engravings dating back to the Mesolithic period, hav ...
,
Ondo State
Ondo State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Oǹdó) is a state in southwestern Nigeria. It was created on 3 February 1976 from the former Western State. It borders Ekiti State to the north, Kogi State to the northeast, Edo State to the east, Delta State to t ...
,
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
. He was raised by his mother and maternal grandparents after the death of his father.
["Kole Omotoso", Africultures.](_blank)
/ref> Though the lack of a father figure could crush a young Nigerian boy, the events of his early childhood contributed a great deal to his development as a man and also as a writer. Omotoso was educated at King's College, Lagos
King's College, Lagos (KCL) is a secondary school in Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria. It was founded on 20 September 1909 with 10 students on its original site at Lagos Island, adjacent to Tafawa Balewa Square. The school admits only male students ...
, and the University of Ibadan
The University of Ibadan (UI) is a public research university in Ibadan, Nigeria. The university was founded in 1948 as University College Ibadan, one of many colleges within the University of London. It became an independent university in 196 ...
and then undertook a doctoral thesis on the modern Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
writer Ahmad Ba Kathir
Ahmad ( ar, أحمد, ʾAḥmad) is an Arabic male given name common in most parts of the Muslim world. Other spellings of the name include Ahmed and Ahmet.
Etymology
The word derives from the root (ḥ-m-d), from the Arabic (), from the ve ...
at the University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
.
Later life
Omotoso returned to Ibadan
Ibadan (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano, with a total population of 3,649,000 as of 2021, and over 6 million people within its me ...
to lecture on Arabic studies (1972–76), then moved to the University of Ife
Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) is a federal government-owned university that is located in the ancient city of Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. The university was founded in 1961 and classes commenced in October 1962 as the University of Ife ...
to work in drama (1976–88). He became a writer for various magazines (including ''West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...
'') in the 1970s and was well known among Nigeria's literate elites. His major themes include interracial marriage
Interracial marriage is a marriage involving spouses who belong to different races or racialized ethnicities.
In the past, such marriages were outlawed in the United States, Nazi Germany and apartheid-era South Africa as miscegenation. In 19 ...
, comic aspects of the Biafran-Nigerian conflict, and the human condition—as exemplified in friendship between the Yoruba and the Igbo
Igbo may refer to:
* Igbo people, an ethnic group of Nigeria
* Igbo language, their language
* anything related to Igboland, a cultural region in Nigeria
See also
* Ibo (disambiguation)
* Igbo mythology
* Igbo music
* Igbo art
*
* Igbo-Ukwu, a t ...
and in relationships between children and parents.
His 1988 historical novel about Nigeria,
Just Before Dawn
' (Spectrum Books), was controversial and led Omotoso to leave his native country. After visiting professorships in English at the University of Stirling
The University of Stirling (, gd, Oilthigh Shruighlea (abbreviated as Stir or Shruiglea, in post-nominals) is a public university in Stirling, Scotland, founded by royal charter in 1967. It is located in the Central Belt of Scotland, built w ...
and the National University of Lesotho
The National University of Lesotho, the main and oldest university in Lesotho, is located in Roma, southeast of Maseru, the capital of Lesotho. The Roma valley is broad and is surrounded by a barrier of rugged mountains which provides magnifi ...
and a spell at the , London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, he became a professor of English at the University of the Western Cape
The University of the Western Cape (UWC) is a public research university in Bellville, near Cape Town, South Africa. The university was established in 1959 by the South African government as a university for Coloured people only. Other un ...
in South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
(1991–2000). From 2001 to 2003 he was a professor in the Drama Department at Stellenbosch University
Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant ...
.
He also writes a number of columns in African newspapers, most notably the "Trouble Travels" column in the Nigeria's ''Sunday Guardian''. From 2013 to 2016, he was a patron of the Etisalat Prize for Literature
The 9mobile Prize for Literature (formerly the Etisalat Prize for Literature 2013–16) was created by Etisalat Nigeria in 2013, and is the first ever pan-African prize celebrating first-time African writers of published fiction books. .
In the mid-1990s and 2010s he appeared as the "Yebo Gogo man" in a number television advertisements for Vodacom mobile phone
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...
s.
Omotoso is married with three children — including filmmaker Akin Omotoso
Akin Omotoso (born 1974) is a Nigerian film director, writer, and actor. He is best known for directing the 2022 film ''Rise''. Both his father Kole Omotoso and his sister Yewande Omotoso are also writers.
Early life and education
Omotoso wa ...
and writer Yewande Omotoso
Yewande Omotoso (born 1980) is a South African-based novelist, architect and designer, who was born in Barbados and grew up in Nigeria. She is the daughter of Nigerian writer Kole Omotoso, and the sister of filmmaker Akin Omotoso. She currently ...
— and currently lives in Centurion, Gauteng
Centurion (previously known as Verwoerdburg and before that Lyttelton) is an area with 236,580 inhabitants (2011 census) in the Gauteng Province of South Africa, between Pretoria and Midrand (Johannesburg). Formerly an independent municipality, wi ...
, South Africa.
Themes
Omotoso grew up during the rising tide of radical nationalism and was enamored by the potential that lay in the future of his country. His fiction ranges widely over the human condition, and themes include intergenerational and interracial relationships. ''Fela's Choice'' is an early example of Nigerian detective fiction
Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as s ...
. However, with the ascent of social and political decay, a few years after independence, he became deeply interested in writing ''about'' fiction. Fiction was an avenue that exists apart from the decay of real life and where deep reconstructions about life and ideas come true. It was also an avenue to experiment on social and political ideas for societal change and advancement. Omotoso's non-fiction is wide-ranging in subject matter.
Works
Fiction
*''The Edifice'' (1971)
*''The Combat'' (1972; Penguin Classics, 2008, )
*''Miracles'' (short stories) (1973)
*''Fela's Choice'' (1974)
*''Sacrifice'' (1974, 1978)
*''The Scales'' (1976)
*''To Borrow a Wandering Leaf'' (1978)
*''Memories of Our Recent Boom'' (1982)
*''Just Before Dawn'' (Spectrum Books, 1988, )
Drama
*''The Curse'' (1976)
*''Shadows in the Horizon'' (1977)
Non-fiction
*''The Form of the African Novel'' (1979 etc.)
*''The Theatrical Into Theatre: a study of the drama and theatre of the English-speaking Caribbean'' (1982)
*''Season of Migration to the South: Africa's crises reconsidered'' (1994)
*'' Achebe or Soyinka? A Study in Contrasts'' (1995)
*''Woza Africa'' (1997)
References
*Uko Atai, ''African Writers'' Vol. 2 1997
External links
Kole Omotoso
{{DEFAULTSORT:Omotoso, Kole
1943 births
People from Akure
University of Ibadan alumni
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Living people
Yoruba writers
University of the Western Cape faculty
Nigerian expatriates in South Africa
King's College, Lagos alumni
20th-century Nigerian novelists
English-language writers from Nigeria
Obafemi Awolowo University faculty
International Writing Program alumni
Nigerian dramatists and playwrights
Nigerian male novelists
Kole
Kole Weathers is a fictional superheroine in DC Comics. She is a former member of the Teen Titans.
Fictional character biography
Professor Abel Weathers, paranoid of an impending nuclear holocaust, was attempting to find a way for humanity to ...
20th-century male writers