birth_date: 1949-10-16 00:00:00
avg_rating: 4.19
name: Frank Chipasula
about: Frank M. Chipasula will turn 61 on October 16, 2010. He studied at the Universities of Malawi and Zambia before proceeding to the USA where he has taught Black Literature and Creative Writing at several universities. Among his publications are Visions and Reflections (1972), O Earth, Wait for Me (1984) Nightwatcher, Nightsong (1986) and Whispers in the Wings (1991). Chipasula's poetry is committed to addressing questions concerning the state of post-colonial Africa, artistic social responsibility and the accessibility of the creative medium. One of the twentieth centuries' most respected poets Adrian Mitchell had this to remark on Chipasula's poetry, “Frank M. Chipasula comes to us with rich language and a bursting, compassionate heart. I h Frank M. Chipasula will turn 61 on October 16, 2010. He studied at the Universities of Malawi and Zambia before proceeding to the USA where he has taught Black Literature and Creative Writing at several universities. Among his publications are Visions and Reflections (1972), O Earth, Wait for Me (1984) Nightwatcher, Nightsong (1986) and Whispers in the Wings (1991). Chipasula's poetry is committed to addressing questions concerning the state of post-colonial Africa, artistic social responsibility and the accessibility of the creative medium. One of the twentieth centuries' most respected poets Adrian Mitchell had this to remark on Chipasula's poetry, “Frank M. Chipasula comes to us with rich language and a bursting, compassionate heart. I have seldom encountered poetry which expresses so much pain... His vision is full of righteous rage and its power is overwhelming.” Chipasula has edited several ground-breaking anthologies of African poetry including When My Brothers Come Home: Poems from Central and Southern Africa (1985), The Heinemann Book of African Women's Poetry (1995) and Bending the Bow: An Anthology of African Love Poetry (2009). His own poems have appeared in numerous literary journals, newspapers and anthologies worldwide in English, French, Spanish and Chinese. Chipasula has also engaged in fiction writing, short stories, plays, journal contributions and edited anthologies of African letters. Chipasula holds an M.A. in Creative Writing from Brown University, an M.A. in Afro-American Studies from Yale University and a Ph.D. in English Literature from Brown University. He is currently a Professor of Africana Studies at Southern Illinois University. He has completed work on his next volume, The Burning Rose: New and (Re)Selected Poems, In A Dark Season (a novel) and is currently editing In The Shadow of That Stone (a novel written between 1974 and 1978). ...more