Segun Atanda/
Nigeria’s literary, theatrical and cultural communities are set to roll out the drums for one of Africa’s most celebrated playwrights and intellectuals, Professor Femi Osofisan, as he marks his 80th birthday with a week-long series of performances, film screenings, scholarly conversations and tributes in Lagos and Ibadan.
The landmark celebration, tagged “Femi Osofisan @80: Celebrating an Icon of Arts, Culture and Creativity,” will hold from June 11 to 18, 2026, bringing together theatre practitioners, filmmakers, academics, students and admirers to honour the renowned dramatist, poet, critic and public intellectual whose works have shaped generations of artists and scholars across Africa and beyond.
Organisers described the celebration as a national tribute to a cultural luminary whose writings have consistently interrogated issues of power, history, justice and the human condition.
The Lagos leg of the celebration will commence on June 11 with a three-day stage production of Osofisan’s acclaimed play, Yungba Yungba and the Dance Contest, directed by Bunmi Adedina at the Lagos State University of Education, Ijanikin. Other planned productions include No More the Wasted Breed directed by Segun Adefila and The Engagement directed by Shola Adenugba.
Activities will shift to the J. Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture and History, Onikan, on June 14, featuring a public lecture titled “The Femi Osofisan I Know” by veteran dramatist Ben Tomoloju, followed by the unveiling of 100 Songs of Femi Osofisan, produced by Semoore Badejo for Concrete Studios.
A major highlight of the celebration will be a roundtable on “Femi Osofisan’s Drama and the Deconstruction of the Nigerian Postcolonial State,” bringing together distinguished scholars, filmmakers and theatre practitioners, including renowned filmmaker Tunde Kelani, Professor Mabel Evwierhoma, Professor Akin Adesokan, Professor Razinat Mohammed and several others. The session will be moderated by culture curator Jahman Anikulapo.
Guests will also enjoy screenings of Maami and Cordelia, two acclaimed film adaptations of Osofisan’s literary works by Tunde Kelani.
The Ibadan segment of the celebration will take place at the Staff Club of the University of Ibadan on June 17 and 18. It will feature screenings of recorded performances of Yungba Yungba and the Dance Contest and Farewell to a Cannibal Rage, followed by question-and-answer sessions, roundtable discussions and tributes.
Organisers said the events are designed not only to celebrate Osofisan’s extraordinary body of work but also to stimulate critical engagement with his enduring contributions to theatre, literature and cultural discourse.
Born in Erunwon, Ogun State, on June 16, 1946, Osofisan studied French at the University of Ibadan before earning a doctorate from the institution in 1974. He later rose to become Professor of Theatre Arts and was named Emeritus Professor upon retirement. Over the decades, he has authored more than 40 plays, several novellas and poetry collections, while serving as President of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), PEN Nigeria and the Pan African Writers Association (PAWA).
His numerous honours include the French National Order of Merit Award, the Nigerian National Order of Merit Award for the Humanities, the Fonlon-Nichols Award and the prestigious Thalia Prize of the International Association of Theatre Critics, making him one of Africa’s most decorated literary figures.
With scholars, artists and cultural enthusiasts converging from Nigeria and abroad, the FO@80 celebrations promise to be a fitting tribute to a man widely regarded as one of the most influential voices in African literature and theatre.
0Related posts:
UI Theatre@60: Technical Theatre Exponent, Teju Kareem Honoured by Alma Mater
The National Theatre and the Cultural Strangulation of Nigeria’s Creative Sector
Situating Our Legends In History. The Quadrumvirate of Excellence: Professors Akinosi, Okoisor, Akpata, and Mosadomi
Interrogating Two Years of Nigeria’s Foreign Policy Under President Tinubu
Ndigbo: Soyinka, Tinubu as Metaphors of Anti-Yoruba Obsession
Nigerian Negritudist, Gabriel Okara, Dies at 97 …Buhari, Jonathan, Dickson Mourn