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Kola Tubosun

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Kola Tubosun
Kola Tubosun's profile picture (2015).
Born
Kọ́láwọlé Olúgbémiró Ọlátúbọ̀sún

(1981-09-22)22 September 1981
Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria
NationalityNigerian
Other namesKola Olatubosun
Alma materUniversity of Ibadan, Moi University, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Occupation(s)Linguist, writer, teacher
ParentOlatubosun Oladapo
Websitewww.ktravula.com

Kọ́láwọlé Olúgbémiró Ọlátúbọ̀sún (born 22 September 1981) is a Nigerian writer, linguist and teacher[1][2][3] whose work and influence span the fields of education, technology, literature, journalism, and linguistics. He is a Fulbright Fellow (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, 2009) and recipient of the Premio Ostana Special Prize for Mother Tongue Literature 2016.[4][5][6] He writes in Yoruba and English.

He was named twice as one of the country's top innovators[7][8] and in 2016 as part of the Quartz Africa Innovator's List.[9]

Early life and education

Tubosun was born in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria, to a family of six. He was educated in Nigeria, Kenya, and the United States. While studying in the University of Ibadan, he was a member of the Union of Campus Journalists, University of Ibadan and also served as the president of that student association between 2002-2004 where he was an advocate for qualitative journalism and for quality education. He holds a Masters in Linguistics from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (2012). He also studied briefly in Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya, in April 2005, as part of a MacArthur Foundation-sponsored Socio-Cultural Exchange Programme. He was granted a Fulbright scholarship in 2009 through which he taught Yoruba language at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in 2009–10. He has also worked as a volunteer adult literacy tutor, with resettled immigrants, at the International Institute of St. Louis, Missouri, and later as a high school teacher of English language in Lagos, Nigeria.

Writing and editing

While he worked in Lagos, (2015–16) Tubosun edited two issues of The Sail, an anthology of creative works.[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] He also edited an online-based literary magazine about new writing from Nigerian and Africa called NTLitMag (2012–15), as well as Aké Review (November 2015), the literary publication of the Aké Arts and Book Festival.

In September 2015, he released a poetry chapbook entitled Attempted Speech & Other Fatherhood Poems,[18] which contains poems written about the experience of raising a child.

He is also involved in journalism and the documentation of the Nigerian literary, cultural, and language experience through his personal travel blog for which he has been nominated for local and international awards, including the CNN/Multichoice African Journalists Award 2015.[19]

Language advocacy

In 2012, Tubosun started an online campaign to demand that Twitter include Yoruba (his mother tongue) in the list of languages into which Twitter was being translated: 1 March 2012 was declared "the Tweet Yoruba Day" to call attention to the matter.[20] The campaign involved other speakers of Yoruba online tweeting only in the language and directing their comments to the Twitter translation platform, and it eventually yielded first an acknowledgement of the protest and then a promise to act in support of the idea. The campaign continued on 1 March 2013 and again on 1 March 2014. In August 2014, Twitter announced through a tweet that they were now adding Yoruba (along with Esperanto) to the translation platform, ending the two years of advocacy.[21][22][23][24]

Tubosun founded the "Yorùbá Name Documentation Project" at YorubaName.com in March 2015 after months of crowdfunding as[25][26] an effort to document all names in Yoruba in an accessible multimedia format while bringing together a community of interested linguists and other culture enthusiasts to document the African cultural and linguistic experience on the web. He is also involved in setting up a version for Igbo language at IgboName.com. On 8 August 2015, the project released a free Yorùbá Keyboard software for Mac and Windows to allow its users type in Yorùbá language on the internet[27] with an update to cater for Igbo in July 2016.[28][29]

Translations

Tubosun has worked as a freelance literary and non-literary translator since 2008. His work in localizing the predictive text input product "T9" was detailed in a memoir/ essay for Farafina Magazine in 2007 titled "Speaking the Machine".[30]

In February 2014, he was part of the Cassava Republic Press Ankara Press Valentine Anthology, which had short stories about love by African writers translated into local languages.[31]

He has also worked in translating a number of poems from English, by writers from all over the world, into Yoruba language.

In November 2016, at the Aké Arts and Book Festival, he was instrumental in translating a short story by Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o into Yoruba language, part of which he read out at the festival.[32][33]

Awards

The Premio Ostana, a glass-art sculpture and a medal, created by Silvio Vigliaturo, a famous contemporary Italian artist and glass sculptor.

In January 2016, he was named as a recipient of a Premio Ostana "Special Prize" for Mother Tongue Literature (Il Premio Ostana Internazionale Scritture in Lingua Madre 2016), a prize given to any individual who has done writing and notable advocacy for the defence of an indigenous language.[4][5][34][35][36] The Prize is organized by the Culture of the Chambra D'Oc in the town of Ostana (Cuneo, Italy). The eighth edition of the Prize Ceremony was held from 2 to 5 June 2016 in Italy, in collaboration with the Municipality of Ostana.[6][37][38] Tubosun was the first African to be so honoured.

Selected works

Poetry chapbooks
  • Headfirst into the Meddle (2005)
  • Attempted Speech and Other Fatherhood Poems (2015).[39]
Edited
  • Edo North: Field Studies of the Languages and Lands of the Northern Edo (2011). Essays in Honour of Professor Ben O. Elugbe. Zenith Book House.[40]
  • The Sail: Issue 1 (March 2015), Whitesands School, Lekki[10][11][12][13]
  • The Sail: Issue 2 (May 2016), Whitesands School, Lekki[14]
Translations
  • "Volta. Poem by Richard Berengarten" (November 2009), International Literary Quarterly, Issue #9
  • "Ọkùnrín tó n dágbé àti ìkookò – The Hermit and the Fox" (2010). Short story by Klemen Pisk
  • "Sátidé Létí Òkun – Saturday by the Sea" (2014). Three Poems by Fred D’Aguiar. Ake Review
  • "Arábìnrin Inú Asọ Ọlọsàn. Short Story by Sarah Ladiipo Manyika" (February 2015), Ankara Press Anthology
Other works in print
  • "Two Poems" (January 2005), Sentinel Poetry Quarterly
  • "Behind the Door" (2010). Short story in fiction anthology African Roar
  • "Two Poems" (2014) in Footmarks: Poems on One Hundred Years of Nigeria's Nationhood, edited by Ezeigbo & Okoli.
  • "For Subsideen the Gnome" (2014). Poem in The Moth, Issue 17: Summer, 2014

References

  1. ^ Olofinlua, Temitayo (25 May 2015). "Nigerian Scholar Creates an Online Home for Yoruba Names". Global Press Journal. Global Press. With the help of volunteers and crowdsourcing contributors, he is creating an online compendium of Yoruba names with meanings and aural pronunciations.
  2. ^ "A Stroll with Kola Tubosun, Teacher, Writer, Linguist and Founder, YorubaName.com"
  3. ^ "Writing a New Nigeria: Ideas of Identity", BBC Radio 4,
  4. ^ a b Florence Utor (31 January 2016). "Tobosun Receives International Award For Mother Tongue Literature 2016". The Guardian. Nigeria.
  5. ^ a b Uhakheme, Ozolua (25 January 2016). "Nigerian author wins Premio Ostana award for scriptures". The Nation.
  6. ^ a b "Giunge a conclusione l'ottava edizione del Premio Ostana". Retrieved 6 June 2016.
  7. ^ Stephen, Jewel (2015). "The class of 2015: Nigeria's 100 most innovative persons in Technology". YNaija. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  8. ^ Oyetimein, Oluwapelumi (2016). "YNaija presents the class of 2016: Nigeria's 100 most innovative persons in Technology". YNaija. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  9. ^ "Quartz Africa Innovators 2016 list". Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  10. ^ a b "Review of The Sail | An Anthology of Writings by Students in a Lagos Secondary School", Brittle Paper, 24 August 2015.
  11. ^ a b "First Breath From Whitesands: A review by Tade Ipadeola", Sabi News, 3 July 2015.
  12. ^ a b Belo-Osagie, Kofoworola, "Whitesands Boys Write Book", The Nation, 2 July 2015.
  13. ^ a b "Whitesands School Grooms Creative Students", National Mirror, 2 July 2015.
  14. ^ a b "The Sail: Whitesands Schools Launch 2nd Edition of Students' Creativity Compendium". Retrieved 24 May 2016.
  15. ^ "Whitesands students bring magic in the second edition of 'The Sail'". Sabi News. 25 May 2016. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  16. ^ "Our students literary works yielding results". National Mirror. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
  17. ^ "Whitesands School Celebrates the Next Generation of African Writers". Brittle Paper. 1 June 2016. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
  18. ^ Achieng, Emily (30 September 2015). "A Father's Apprehensions and Fascinations—Interview with Kola Tubosun". Saraba Magazine. Saraba.
  19. ^ Olisakwe, Ukamaka (14 September 2015). "NEWS: Kola Tubosun and four other Nigerians among finalists in the 2015 CNN Multichoice African Journalist". Olisa.tv. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  20. ^ Egbunike, Nwachukwu (2013). "Nigerians Shake Up Twitter with Yoruba-Language Tweets". Global Voices.
  21. ^ Oluwafemi, Bankole (2 March 2012). "Twitter Promises Support For Yoruba in Coming Months". TechLoy.
  22. ^ "Twitter Can Now be Translated into Yoruba". Encomium. 4 December 2014.
  23. ^ Bankole, Oluwafemi (14 November 2014). "It Took Only Two Years, But Twitter Is Finally Getting Translated into Yoruba". TechCabal. As we speak, Kola and others are working to translate the Twitter's standard glossary of terms.
  24. ^ Elusoji, Solomon (21 April 2015). "Cultural Export". This Day Live/AllAfrica. An online Yoruba dictionary has been launched to help the Yoruba race in Nigeria go beyond borders.
  25. ^ "Online Dictionary Helps Nigerians Decode Their Names", Voice of America.
  26. ^ "YorubaName.com Hits Crowdfunding Benchmark", TechCabal.
  27. ^ Yorùbá Keyboard Layouts for Mac and Windows.
  28. ^ "Yorubaname Team Launch Yoruba and Igbo keyboards - Gadget Reviews Nigeria". 20 July 2016. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  29. ^ "Combined Igbo, Yoruba keyboard made available on Yorubaname.com". 18 July 2016. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  30. ^ "Farafina 12". issuu. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  31. ^ "African Love Stories Ankara Press", Brittle Paper, February 2016.
  32. ^ "Ngugi wa Thiong'o: Ake Arts and Book Festival's Worthy Headliner". The NEWS. 25 November 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  33. ^ "Abeokuta… a feast of books, arts on the rock". Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  34. ^ "KỌ́LÁ TÚBỌ̀SÚN becomes first African to win Premio Ostana international language award". Sabi News. 26 January 2016.
  35. ^ NG, Mirror (26 January 2016). "Nigerian Man becomes first African to win the Premio Ostana International Award for Mother Tongue Literature".
  36. ^ Okuyeme, Tony (29 January 2016). "Tubosun wins Premio Ostana International Award". New Telegraph.
  37. ^ "Dalla lingua Yoruba allo shar-chicham, nel borgo occitano di Ostana un festival per salvare le lingue minori". L'Huffington Post. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
  38. ^ "Scritture in lingua madre Un patrimonio da salvare". LaStampa.it. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
  39. ^ "Attempted Speech and Other Fatherhood Poems". Saraba Magazine. 30 September 2015. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
  40. ^ "Edo North: Field Studies of the Languages and Lands of the Northern Edo: Essays in Honour of Professor Ben O. Elugbe". SOAS.
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