The passing of renowned poet and playwright, John Pepper Clark has thrown the literary world into mourning. Tributes have poured in from different corners of the world, a testament to the legacy of the Delta-born poetic genius. America-based Nigerian essayist and social media influencer, Ikhide Ikheloa, joined the world in saying goodbye to the late writer in his inimitable style, with a cheeky reference to his most famous poem, “Ibadan”.
Ikheloa wrote on Twitter: “’Ibadan, running splash of rust and gold – flung and scattered among seven hills like broken china in the sun.’ – JP Clark-Bekederemo. Ibadan, JP Clark’s epic poem, at less than 140 characters, fits into one tweet. Let’s call it the first tweet ever! Good night, warrior!”
“Ibadan, running splash of rust and gold — flung and scattered among seven hills like broken china in the sun." –
J.P Clark-Bekederemo
Ibadan, JP Clark's epic poem, at less than 140 characters, fits into one tweet. Let’s call it the first tweet ever! Good night, warrior! pic.twitter.com/MuhyP5v4p4
— Ikhide (@ikhide) October 13, 2020
The Life of JP Clark
Clark was born on April 6, 1935 in the small town of Kiagbodo in Delta State. He had his early education in Delta and later proceeded to the University of Ibadan from where he graduated in 1960.
While at Ibadan, he was heavily involved in the literary community, founding The Horn, a poetry magazine. Immediately after university, he worked as an editor at Daily Express newspaper until 1962. After winning the Parvin Fellowship, he studied for a year at Princeton University.
Throughout his life, he held various positions at academic institutions all over the world. He was a research fellow at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan. It was during this time that he met Ebun Odutola, a new returnee from England who taught at the School of Drama. Though they fell in love and were committed to each other, Ebun’s father would not consent to the idea of marriage between them mostly due to Clark not being Yoruba. The coupled eloped and got married in Cotonou on April 4, 1964.
In 1965, he became a lecturer at the University of Lagos and seven years became the Head and Professor of English, the first African writer to ever hold such position in the world.
While at the University of Lagos, he co-edited the legendary journal, Black Orpheus. In 1982, he co-founded the PEC Repertory Theatre, the first theatre house in Nigeria, alongside his wife.
His professorial duties were not limited to the shores of Nigeria—he had appointments at Lincoln University, Yale University and Wesleyan University.
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Works
In 1961, his first play, Song of a Goat, premiered at the Mbari Club in Ibadan. He published his first collection, titled Poems, in 1962. His experiences of America’s racism and capitalist class divide during his eight-month stay at Princeton led to the publication of the travelogue, America, Their America in 1964.
Also while at Princeton, he completed two plays: The Masquerade [1964] and The Raft [1964]. Upon return to Nigeria, he worked on a new poetry collection, A Reed in the Tide [1965], and a new play, Ozidi [1966].
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The publication of Reed by Longmans in London made him the first of his contemporaries to be published by a major British publishing house outside of the fiction genre.
Clark’s work was decidedly political most of the time. In 1988, he released Mandela and Other Poems. He was a consultant for UNESCO in the publication of its 1967 report, Apartheid: Its Effects on Education, Science, Culture and Information. In 2000, he published All for Oil, detailing the troubled history of oil monopoly in pre-colonial and post-colonial Nigeria.
Legacy/Estate
Clark is seen as one of the greatest writers Nigeria has produced. Despite this, it is unknown how much royalty he got from his widely-read works during his lifetime. He has an extensive library of intellectual property including poetry collections, memoirs and plays which will continue to be on demand even after his passing. It is also unclear what his estate plans to do to protect these works from being exploited without proper permission.
