John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo was a Nigerian poet and playwright who published under the pen names J. P. Clark and John Pepper Clark.
He was the most lyrical of Nigerian poets, whose poems celebrated Africa’s physical nature.
He was also a journalist, dramatist, and scholar-critic who studied ancient Ijo tales and stories and authored studies about African poetry.
Clark launched ‘The Horn,’ a student literary magazine, at the University of Ibadan.
After earning a degree in English in 1960, he began his career as a writer and journalist by working as a government information officer in Nigeria.
In addition, from 1960 to 1962, he worked as a features and editorial writer for the Daily Express in Lagos.
After a year of study at Princeton University on a foundation scholarship, he wrote America, Their America (1964), in which he challenged American middle-class principles ranging from capitalism to Black American lives.
The Books John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo Edited
Following a year of research at the Institute of African Studies in Ibadan, he became an English instructor at the University of Lagos and co-editor of the literary journal Black Orpheus.
Chimamanda Adichie to be awarded honorary doctorate
- Song of a Goat (1961)
- The Masquerade (1964)
- The Raft (1964)
- Ozidi (1966)
- The Boat (1981)
- The Wives’ Revolt (1991), and All for Oil (2009) are some of his works that explore important sociopolitical, cultural, and economic challenges on the African continent.
Ozidi Saga (1977), an oral literary epic that takes about seven days to perform; The Example of Shakespeare, which articulates Clark’s aesthetic views on poetry and drama; America, Their America, in which he compared Western values to his African values; and the African Writers Series, to which he contributed literary and editorial works.
Where is John Pepper Clark from?
Delta State is a Nigerian state located in the country’s South-South geopolitical zone.
The state was founded from the previous Bendel State on August 27, 1991, and is named after the Niger Delta, which covers a substantial portion of the state.
