ANA Honours Literary Icon, Prof. Biodun Jeyifo at 80

ANA HONOURS LITERARY ICON PROF. BIODUN JEYIFO AT 80

ANA Media Team

The Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) has congratulated renowned Nigerian academic, critic, public intellectual and cultural theorist, Professor Biodun Jeyifo, on the occasion of his 80th birthday. 

The celebration, ANA said, honours a lifetime of outstanding scholarship, activism and global intellectual influence that has continued to shape literary studies, cultural criticism and African humanities across generations.

This goodwill message was contained in a press statement jointly signed by the President and General Secretary of ANA, Dr. Usman Oladipo Akanbi and Dame Joan Oji, PhD. The association described Professor Jeyifo as one of Nigeria’s most distinguished literary minds whose contributions to world Anglophone literature, African studies and comparative criticism remain invaluable and enduring.

Born on January 5, 1946, Professor Jeyifo attended the University of Ibadan, where he graduated with a First Class Honours degree in English in 1970. He later pursued doctoral studies in Theatre Arts at the same institution under the supervision of Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka. This mentorship helped steer his scholarly interest toward African American drama and theatre, leading him to New York University, USA, where he obtained his PhD in 1974.

On his return to Nigeria, Jeyifo lectured at the University of Ibadan and later at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), where he played a significant role in introducing Marxist sociology of literature into academic discourse. He also served as President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) from 1980 to 1982, working with like-minded scholars to strengthen the union into a principled and politically conscious professional body.

In 1987, Professor Jeyifo relocated to the United States, where he held professorial positions at Oberlin College and Cornell University before joining Harvard University in 2006 as Professor of Comparative Literature and African and African American Studies. As he turns 80, ANA celebrates Professor Biodun Jeyifo for his exceptional intellectual legacy, unwavering commitment to social justice, and his lasting impact on Nigerian and global scholarship, wishing him continued good health and fulfillment.