Molara Ogundipe

On 18 June 2019, Nigerian poet, critic, editor, feminist and activist Omolara Ogundipe-Leslie, also known as Molara Ogundipe, died at the age of 78 in Ijebu Igbo. Considered one of the foremost writers on African feminism, gender studies and literary theory, she was a social critic who came to be recognised as a viable authority on African women among black feminists and feminists in general. 

Abiodun Omolara Ogundipe was born in Lagos, Nigeria on 27 December 1940, to a family of educators and clergy. She attended Queen's School, Ede, and went on to become the first woman to obtain a first-class BA Honours degree in English at University College Ibadan, then a college of the University of London. She later earned a doctorate in Narratology (the theory of narrative) from Leiden University. She taught English Studies, Writing, Comparative Literature and Gender from the perspectives of cultural studies and development at universities in several continents, and was also a Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State Nigeria.

Ogundipe is recognized as one of the foremost writers on African women and feminism. She argued for an African-centred feminism that she termed "Stiwanism" (Social Transformation in Africa Including Women) in her book Recreating Ourselves. A distinguished scholar and literary theorist, she published numerous works of poetry and literary criticism in addition to her scholarly works.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Selected publications

Culture, difference and social change : theoretizations by Molara Ogundipe and Obioma Nnaemeka / Clara John.
In: Stichproben, 2017, Jahrgang 17, Nummer 33, Seiten 79-97

Give us that spade! / Molara Ogundipe.
In: African love stories : an anthology / Ama Ata Aidoo. - Banbury : Ayebia Clarke, 2006

Gender issues: the sacred and the feminine / Molara Ogundipe.
In: Africa quarterly, 2007, Vol.46 (4), p.44-57

African Literature, Feminism, and Social Change / Molara Ogundipe-Leslie.
In: Matatu, 2001 (23-24), p.307-322

Gender and subjectivity : readings of "Song of Lawino" / Abiodun Omolara. - [Leiden] : Research School of Asian, African, and Amerindian Studies (CNWS), Universiteit Leiden, 1999

Daughters of Africa : an international anthology of words and writings by women of African descent: from the ancient Egyptian to the present / Margaret Busby. - New York : Ballantine Books, 1994

Re-creating ourselves : African women & critical transformations / Molara Ogundipe-Leslie. - Trenton, N.J. : Africa World Press, 1994

African women, culture and another development / Molara Ogundipe-Leslie.
In: Présence africaine : revue culturelle du monde noir, 1987, no. 141, p. 123-139

The female writer and her commitment / Molara Ogundipe-Leslie.
African literature today : a journal of explanatory criticism, 1987, no. 15, p. 5-13

Ghana international Book fair - Molara Ogundipe part 01

Timeline of Nigerian women writers via DBpedia and Wikidata