OMOSEYE BOLAJI (Nigeria)

By P. Lechesa

Omoseye Bolaji has been writing creatively practically his whole life! By his own account, he was already creating, writing and typing stories since he was a kid. Later on, whilst living in South Africa, he blossomed as a superb writer.

He is certainly one of the most prolific writers in Africa, despite his many other glittering selfless contributions to literature. His bibliography shows he has published close to 40 books straddling a myriad of genres, aside from thousands of journalistic pieces and articles over the years.

By the time he was a young man, Bolaji had not only published some early books of his, but made a name for himself in west Africa by publishing hundreds of short stories locally. He had also already published articles in Europe, including features for the international magazine, World Soccer which is distributed in most countries of the

world.

Some of Bolaji's early short stories would be published in another of his early books, They Never Say When (1994). Later on, he would publish another work of short stories, The Guillotine (2001), with his short stories also being published in many magazines, newspapers, and general books.     

Bolaji is known to many readers these days as the creator of the series of books usually

dubbed "The Tebogo Mystery series". Eight of these books have now been written and published by the author, the last one in 2012 (Tebogo and the Bacchae). But Bolaji has also published other general novels.

Omoseye Bolaji's major works of fiction were published within a few years of each other. Impossible Love, perhaps his most satisfying work of "art" came out in 2000. A year later saw the publication of The ghostly adversary, a brilliant thriller. In 2003 he produced his most acclaimed fictional work, People of the Townships.   

People of the Townships, based on the SA (black) townships is not a work of "violence" as one might expect; it is almost the opposite. The protagonist, Lefuo is a young, rather impoverished, seemingly docile man. He is something of an intellectual, a thinker. As critic Deon Simphiwe Skade has suggested he "did not see himself as belonging to (his own) society".

Remarkably, Bolaji in his novel, People of the Townships creates an unforgettable protagonist who seems very much at odds with his flawed society - reminiscent of similar protagonists who appear in books like Fragments (by Ayi Kwei Armah), The Voice (Gabriel Okara), and The madness of Didi (Obi Egbuna).           

Bolaji has published a play, The subtle transgressor, which is also based on the SA

townships. Reaction to the play has been mixed, with the general consensus being that at least the theme of the work is laudable: a shrill, imaginative condemnation of female abuse with very young ladies at the epicentre.   

As for Bolaji's poetry, it does appear that his fortunes here are rather plummeting. His early Snippets (1998) comes across as a collection of mainly superb poems;

Reverie (2006) is refined and a triumph; whilst Poems from Mauritius constitutes some sort of bathos.        

Some pundits have pointed out that in his recent writings, Bolaji has been focusing

essentially on literary criticism or literary evaluation and appreciation of other writers, books, and corpus. Certainly Thoughts on FS Writing (2002) focuses on pure literature, as does Cognoscenti (2016). There are also many chapters focusing on "pure literature" in Bolaji's books like My life and literature, Miscellaneous Writings, It

Couldn't Matter Less, and Far Up! Far Out! Far More!. But then again, in many of these aforementioned works, there are also powerful elements of the short story, vignettes, and imaginative nous.

Bolaji has gone out of his way to boost and encourage many other African writers, especially younger ones, over the years. This aspect of his formidable repertoire was particularly stressed when he was formally conferred with the Chancellor's Medal by the University of the Free State in 2007.    

Omoseye Bolaji has also been recognised with Lifetime Achievement Awards, alongside many other accolades. He was also conferred with a Chieftaincy title by the Olubadan (King) of Ibadan in appreciation of his contributions to literature. At least a dozen full-length books (studies) written by various authors have been published focusing on Bolaji's work, vision, and remarkable literary achievements.  

Books by Bolaji

Fiction

Impossible Love (2000)
Tebogo Investigates (2000)
The ghostly adversary (2001)
Tebogo’s spot of bother (2001)
People of the Townships (2003)
Tebogo Fails (2003)
Ask Tebogo (2004)
Tebogo and the haka (2008)
Tebogo and the epithalamion (2009)
Tebogo and the pantophagist (2010)
Tebogo and the Bacchae (2012)


Short stories

They Never Say When (1994)
The Guillotine (2001)
The Quack of Qwaqwa (2003)
You never know with Women (2002)

Poetry

Snippets (1998)
Reverie (2006)
Poems from Mauritius (2007)
Collected Poems (2013) - Mbali Press. Sponsored by NAC of South Africa

Literary essays/criticism

Thoughts on Free State Writing (2002)
Molebogeng Alitta Mokhuoa (2004)
Cognoscenti (2016)
Sorry You've Been Troubled (forthcoming)

Biographies

The story of Collins Mokhotho (2000)
Gilbert Modise: the man and the myth (2001)
My life and literature (2007)
Kunle Apantaku (2013)

Drama

The subtle transgressor (2006)


General

Eagles at USA 94 (1994)
The golden pen of Eselby (1994)
Fillets of Plaice (2000)
My Opinion (2005)
Miscellaneous Writings

It Couldn't Matter Less (2013)
Windmills of the Dames (2014)
Far Up! Far Out! Far More! (2014)

MAJOR STUDIES ON HIS WORK

Omoseye Bolaji: His Writings/Catalyst for FS Writing. By Pule Lebuso. 2001.
Omoseye Bolaji: Perspectives on his literary work. By Flaxman Qoopane. 2003
Omoseye Bolaji: Channelling one s thoughts onto paper. By Charmaine Kolwane. 2005
 
TEBOGO ON THE PROWL (Study on his creation, sleuth Tebogo Mokoena) By Petro Schonfeld. 2006
Omoseye Bolaji... On awards, authors, literature. By Pule Lechesa. 2007
THE CREST By Flaxman Qoopane. 2008
Omoseye Bolaji: Further perspectives. By Julia Mooi. 2009
OMOSEYE BOLAJI. By Hector Kunene. 2010
Interviews with effervescent Writers. Edited by Christine Mautjana. 2012. (pages 20 –39)
OMOSEYE BOLAJI: A voyage around his literary work. By Ishmael Mzwandile Soqaga. 2012
BOLAJI IN HIS POMP A bio-critical overview of writer Omoseye Bolaji . By Pule Lechesa. 2013
Omoseye Bolaji's Tebogo Mokoena (essays on Tebogo the fictional detective). Edited by Charmaine Kolwane. 2016