Harry O. Garuba

Born in 1958 in Akure, Nigeria, Harry O. Garuba, poet, literary critic, and distinguished professor, was the nominal leader the Thursday Group, an influential gathering of poets that emerged from the Poetry Club, University of Ibadan, during the 1980s and 90s. The poets, who were also fondly called the Thursday People, imposed stringent standards upon themselves in mastering their craft. Garuba and the rest of the group believed that poetry as an art form was meant to be lived and experienced in its entire range even if it entailed transcending the boundaries of sensibility, convention and nationality. Garuba eventually became a respected professor of literature and Africa studies at the University of Cape Town in South Africa where he passed in 2020.