Tijan Sallah
Tijan Sallah | |
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| Awards | YWAG Prize for Gambian Literature |
Tijan M. Sallah (born 6 March 1958) is a
Early life
Tijan Sallah was born in
Under these influences and encouraged by his teachers at St. Augustine's High School, in particular Joseph Gough, Sallah became interested in creative writing and started writing poetry by his third year. He published his first poem, "The African Redeemer", a poem paying tribute to Kwame Nkrumah, in the St. Augustine's school newspaper, Sunu Kibaro.[1][7] This early poem had been uncharacteristically compliant to the traditional forms of rhyming and was clearly influenced by the English classics he had been studying.[8] Lenrie Peters, the founder of Gambian literature, was a major influence on Sallah's work by this stage, as Sallah took his poetry to Peters's clinic for him to critique it. Peters wanted to promote Sallah's work, he managed to arrange for Sallah to appear on Bemba Tambedou's national radio programme, Writers of The Gambia.[1][9] Having graduated from St. Augustine's in 1975,[9] Sallah worked for two years as an audit clerk in the Customs Department and then in the Government Post Office, and at the same time tried to secure a scholarship to continue his studies at the United States.[10]
In 1977, Sallah went to the United States to study at Rabun Gap Nacoochee School in Rabun County, Georgia.[10]
Literary career
In Georgia, Sallah was influenced by
In 1980, Sallah published his first
On the publication of Sallah's most recent poetry collection, I Come From a Country, E. Ethelbert Miller said: "Sallah writes about home after traveling around the world. He offers love without apology. There is brightness in this book."[13]
Professional career
Sallah had been interested in becoming a medical doctor, but upon realising the difficulties associated with this as a foreigner in the US, he changed his focus to economics.
He taught economics at
Personal life
Sallah is married to the Malian Fatim Haidara, an engineer, and they have a daughter and son.[citation needed]
Awards and recognition
- Young Writers of The Gambia (YWAG) Prize for Gambian Literature, Writers Association of The Gambia[14][15]
Works
Poetry collections
- When Africa Was a Young Woman, Calcutta, India: Writers Workshop, 1980
- Kora Land: poems, Washington DC.: Three Continents Press, US, 1989
- Dreams of Dusty Roads: new poems, Washington DC: Three Continents Press, US, 1993
- Dream Kingdom: new and selected poems, Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2007
- Harrow: London Poems of Convalescence, Global Hands Publishing, Leicester, UK, 2014
- I Come From a Country, Africa World Press, 2021
Anthologies
- (ed.) New Poets of West Africa, Malthouse Press, Nigeria, 1995
- (ed.) with Tanure Ojaide, The New African Poetry: an anthology, Lynne Rienner Publishers, Colorado, 1999
- (guest ed.) A World Assembly of Poets, Re-markings, Agra, India, Vol. 16, No. 4, November 2017
Short stories
- Before the New Earth: African short stories, Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1988.
- "Weaverdom", in C. L. Innes, eds, Contemporary African Short Stories, 1992.
- "Innocent Terror", in Charles Larson (ed.), Under African Skies: Modern African Stories, 1997, Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
- "Innocent Terror", in Encounters from Africa, An Anthology of Short Stories, Macmillan Kenya Publishers, 2000, pp. 99–106.
Biography
- (with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala) Chinua Achebe: Teacher of light: a biography, Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2003.
Ethnography
- Wolof, ISBN 978-0823919871
Literary criticism
- Saani Baat: Aspects of African Literature and Culture, Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2021.
Further reading
- Ojaide, Tanure (2014). "An Unusual Growth: The Development of Tijan Sallah's Poetry". In Raji, Wumi (ed.). Contemporary literature of Africa: Tijan M. Sallah and literary works of The Gambia. Amherst, New York: Cambria Press. pp. 37–58. ISBN 978-1-60497-867-4.
- Raji, Wumi (2014). "Kora Notes: Tijan M. Sallah and Gambian Literature". In Raji, Wumi (ed.). Contemporary literature of Africa: Tijan M. Sallah and literary works of The Gambia. Amherst, New York: Cambria Press. pp. 1–16. ISBN 978-1-60497-867-4.
- Raji, Wumi (2014). "The Amphibian's Dilemme: An Interview with Tijan M. Sallah". In Raji, Wumi (ed.). Contemporary literature of Africa: Tijan M. Sallah and literary works of The Gambia. Amherst, New York: Cambria Press. pp. 225–246. ISBN 978-1-60497-867-4.
References
- ^ ISBN 978-1-136-59397-0. Retrieved March 17, 2013.
- ISBN 9789782601988.
- ^ Raji 2014a, p. 4.
- ^ Raji 2014b, p. 235.
- ^ Ojaide 2014, p. 39.
- ^ Raji 2014b, p. 236.
- ^ Ojaide 2014, p. 40.
- ^ Raji 2014a, p. 5.
- ^ a b c d Raji 2014a, p. 6.
- ^ a b c Raji 2014b, p. 237.
- ^ World Literature Today, Winter 1981, p. 58.
- ^ Topic Magazine, May 1991, p. 24.
- ^ Alexander, Alesia (January 6, 2022). "Gambian Poet Tijan M. Sallah's I Come From A Country Evokes The Poetic Power of Place". Brittle Paper. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
- ^ "16 Gambian writers win awards". The Standard. October 18, 2022. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
- ^ Saliu, Yunus S (October 19, 2022). "Sixteen Writers Receive Gambia Prize For Literature Award As KKIBF Curtain Down". Retrieved November 24, 2022.
External links
- "Conversations with African Writers and Artists", Princeton African Humanities Colloquium, Princeton University.
- Tijan Sallah at Poetry Foundation
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