Anyidoho, Kofi

Description

Peter Nazareth interviews Kofi Anyidoho, a poet from Ghana. Anyidoho talks about how his writing has been influenced by oral tradition. He feels a close connection between music and poetry is intrigued by the way language can express emotion and feelings through the use of metaphor, imagery and other tools. Anyidoho reads one of his poems, “Words Are Birds,” in English and then a tape-recorded version of the poem is played in Ewe, Anyidoho's native language. Anyidoho talks about the current state of Africa and how slavery continues to have an impact on life there. He feels that people shouldn't try and forget about slavery, but that they should talk about it in order to understand and overcome it. Anyidoho views education as the key to creating a better life for people living in Africa and hopes that his poetry will help people to have a greater self-knowledge. Anyidoho quotes a friend who says that “slavery is a living wound,” and argues that words can help heal that wound. He discusses a piece he wrote in Ghana that has had a great impact on people there and in other parts of Africa in dealing with the pain of slavery. Contact the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa: https://iwp.uiowa.edu/contact Originally recorded on VHS videotape and converted to wav and mp3 files. Master digital recording available in .wav format.