Bate Besong Award for Poetry

Bate Besong, the Obasijom warrior, is without doubt Cameroon’s most prolific writer dead or alive. Primarily a poet, BB as he was fondly called, received his PhD in English and literary studies from the University of Calabar (Nigeria). He published several collections of poetry, including Polyphemus Detainee and Other Skulls (1980), The Grain of Bobe Ngom Jua (1985), Just Above Cameroon (1988) and Disgrace: An Autobiographical Narcissus, which he launched on March 7, 2007 a few hours before his death in a ghastly car accident on March 8th 2007. BB also published important plays including The Most Cruel Death of the Talkative Zombie (1987), Beast of No Nation (1990) and Change Waka and His Man Sawa Boy (2001).

Concerned with the state of culture and society in postcolonial Africa in general and Cameroon in particular, Besong's works focus on specific social problems of the period after independence, such as injustice, corruption, social, political, and economic instability, as well as the sharp inequalities plaguing Africa and the resulting human suffering. His words appear to be a platform geared toward the denunciation of oppression inflicted by one group on another and the resulting tensions, including violence, and lack of social, economic, and political stability; In addition to teaching drama at the University of Buea in Cameroon, Besong was also an important critic whose essays appeared in various international professional journals. He was the people’s writer. This award is to Keep BB’s flame burning and to encourage other Cameroon writers to continue his legacy.

Comments

[Kum Eric Tso]

BB's contribution does not only act as an eye opening phase for this generation but as an all time patriotic move to cut the rope on the innocent people's neck. No doubt he died like a sacrificial lamp.

[Kum Eric Tso]

We very much appreciate the eduart award, but how can we submit our entries for the contest?
Thanks for your always available attention.Where can we go without you?

[kum eric tso]

(A POEM BY KUM ERIC TSO)

DREAM OF PEACE

Early in my dream I saw Obama
Roving in the fresh fields with Osama
In commune with their eyes of olive hold
Calling unto God, ‘Eden’ as of old.

[Gege Nkwo]

I nominate Bernice Angoh, www.berniceangoh.com who has won so many awards in the US and is the next amazing writer to come out of Cameroon.

[Muhammad Ibn Abdullahi, PhD.]

Good day the breaved,
I just came across a shocking news of the death of a respected scholar of great repute, who I believed taught me in my younger days at college in Kano State, Nigeria in the 80s. It has indeed been my desire to get in touch mith the late literary guru but just to came across the sad news.