Yulisa Pat Amadu Maddy
Yulisa Amadu Pat Maddy | |
---|---|
Born | 27 December 1936 Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama |
Occupation(s) | Writer, poet, actor, dancer, director and playwright |
Notable work | No Past, No Present, No Future (1973) |
Yulisa Amadu Pat Maddy (27 December 1936 – 16 March 2014)
Biography
Maddy was born to
He was Director of Drama at the
On his return to Sierra Leone in 1968, Maddy became Head of Drama on Radio Sierra Leone.
His first novel, No Past, No Present, No Future, explored the dynamics of a group of three friends (including, controversially, at the time, one gay man) growing up in colonial West Africa and their physical, psychological and emotional journeys to Europe. It was published in 1973, to great acclaim in the Heinemann African Writers Series, and his writing continued to develop. His work, which is often challenging and confrontational, has been broadcast by the BBC and published internationally. However, the uncompromising honesty of his writing, particularly in his views on the social and political inequalities in Africa, led to his political imprisonment in Sierra Leone. Upon his release, he was forced to leave the country and become a political exile.
In 2007, Maddy returned to Sierra Leone to teach at Freetown's Milton Margai College of Education[1] and continue his academic research of exploring and developing Sierra Leone's cultural heritage, providing inspiration and opportunities to a new generation of artists and performers, and continuing to give a "voice to the voiceless" through the work of his Gbakanda Foundation.[8] After a long period of illness, he died in March 2014, aged 78, at Choitram Hospital, Freetown.
Awards and honours
Maddy received a Sierra Leone National Arts Festival Award in 1973, a Gulbenkian Grant from the
He has also received the distinction of being commemorated in a special stained-glass window of the
Works
- Alla Gbah [The Big Man], 1967
- Yon Kon [Clever Thief], 1968. Reprinted in African Writers Series34.
- Obasai [Over Yonder], 1971. Reprinted in Obasai and Other Plays, Heinemann, 1968. African Writers Series 89.
- Ghana Bendu [Tough Guy], 1971
- Life Everlasting, 1972. Reprinted in Cosmo Pieterse (ed.), Short African Plays, Heinemann, 1972. African Writers Series 78.
- No Past, No Present, No Future (novel), London: Heinemann Educational, 1973. African Writers Series 137.
- If Wishes Were Horses (radio play), 1973
- Big Breeze Blow, produced Freetown, 1974
- Take Tem Draw Di Rope, Freetown, 1975
- Naw We Yone Dehn See, 1975
- Put for Me, produced Freetown, 1975
- Big Berrin (Big Burying), Freetown, 1976
- Saturday Night Out (television play), 1980
- A Journey Into Christmas, 1980
- Drums, Voices and Words, 1985
- (with Donnarae MacCann) African Images in Juvenile Literature: Commentaries on Neocolonialist Fiction, Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1996
- (with Donnarae MacCann) Neo-imperialism in Children's Literature about Africa: A Study of Contemporary Fiction, New York: Routledge, 2009.
References
- ^ a b "Freetown: Pat Yulisa Amadu Maddy Passes On", The Patriotic Vanguard, 21 March 2014.
- ^ ISBN 0-203-10590-7
- ^ C. Magbaily Fyle, Historical Dictionary of Sierra Leone, Scarecrow Press, 2006, p. 114.
- ISBN 978-0-415-23019-3. Reprinted online here
- ^ a b c d "Yulisa Amadu Maddy", Hans M. Zell, Carol Bundy & Virginia Coulon (eds), A New Reader's Guide to African Literature, Heinemann Educational Books, 1983, pp. 410–11.
- S2CID 165266661. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
- ^ Chambers, Colin. "Black British Plays Post World War II -1970s". Black Plays Archive. National Theatre. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
- ^ Gbakanda Foundation.
- ^ G. D. Killam, Alicia L. Kerfoot, Student Encyclopedia of African Literature, Greenwood Press, 2008, p. 185.
External links
- "Yulisa Amadu Maddy interview, Freetown, Sierra Leone, July 2, 1975"
- George Ola-Davies, "Sierra Leone News: Alagbah: Fare thee Well", Awoko, 8 April 2014.
- "Sierra Leone News: Tribute: To Pat Maddy", Awoko, 9 April 2014.