Biography of john pepper clark
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The Life &#; Times of John Pepper Clark
Ibadan&#;
running splash of rust
and gold-flung and scattered
among seven hills like broken
China in the sun.
Written in , this is one of West Africa&#;s most famous poems. It is simple and straightforward yet pure and authentic. These same adjectives have also been used to describe the author – Late John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo, one of the most remarkable writers Nigeria will ever have.
Born in Kiagbodo, Warri Province, in the now-defunct Western Region of Nigeria to the famous Clark family, J P Clark started his writing career as a student in University College Ibadan. He was the editor of the Students&#; Union journal, The Beacon and he was also the founding editor of the UCI poetry journal, The Horn, in which his early poems first appeared. Some of his contemporaries in his student days included Christopher Okigbo, Emmanuel Ifejuana, Abiola Irele, and several other Nigerian writers of repute.
His love for poetry stood
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Clark, John Pepper
Also writes as J.P. Clark Bekederemo. Nationality: Nigerian. Born: Kiagbodo, 6 April Education: Warri Government College, Ughelli, –54; University of Ibadan, –60, B.A. (honors) in English , and graduate study (Institute of African Studies fellowship), –64; Princeton University, New Jersey (Parvin fellowship). Family: Married Ebun Odutola Clark; three daughters and one son. Career: kunskap officer, Government of Nigeria, –61; head of features and editorial writer, Lagos Daily Express, –62; research fellow, –66, and professor of African literature, –85, University of Lagos. Founding editor, Horn magazine, Ibadan; coeditor, Black Orpheus, Lagos, from Founding member, kultur of Nigerian Authors. Agent: Andrew Best, Curtis Brown, –68 Regent Street, London W1R 5TB, England.
Publications
Poetry
Poems. Ibadan, Mbari,
A Reed in the Tide: A urval of Poems. London, Longman, ; New York, Humanities Press,
Casualties: Poems – London, L
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Ahead of his death on October 13, ,the renowned Nigerian poet and playwright John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo had given instructions on his burial.
He wrote a poem, “My Last Testament”:
This is to my family
Do not take me to a mortuary,
Do not take me to a church,
Whether I die in or out of town,
But take me home to my own, and
To lines and tunes, tested on the waves
Of time, let me lie in my place
On the Kiagbodo River.
If Moslems do it in a day,
You certainly can do it in three,
Avoiding blood and waste,
And whatever you do after,
My three daughters and my son
By the only wife I have,
Do not fight over anything
I may be pleased to leave behind
(From Full Tide, collected poems, page )
At pm on October 15, the “Last Testament” was fulfilled when Clark’s body was interred after a brief ceremony attended by a few relations, including his wife, Professor Ebun Clark (née Odutola), and children. His remains had earlier arrived at Kiagbodo f