Library weekly: Duro Ladipo

On 11 March 1978, Durodola Durosomo Duroorike Timothy Adisa Ladipo (18 December 1926 – 11 March 1978), more commonly known as Duro Ladipo, died at the age of 51 after a short illness. He was one of the best known and critically acclaimed Yoruba dramatists who emerged from postcolonial Africa. Writing solely in the Yoruba language, he captivated the symbolic spirit of Yoruba mythologies in his plays, which were later adapted to other media such as photography, television and cinema. His most famous play, Ọba kò so (The King did not Hang), a dramatization of the traditional Yoruba story of how Ṣango became the Orisha of Thunder, received international acclaim at the first Commonwealth Arts Festival in 1965 and on a Europe an tour, where a Berlin critic, Ulli Beier, compared Ladipọ to Karajan. Ladipo usually acted in his own plays.  Duro Ladipo is featured in our Library Weekly.