An Introduction to the Poetry of Okot p’Bitek: A Yellow Arrow Publishing workshop

Thursday, June 16, 2022

7:00 PM -8:30 PM

Class Size: 15 participants

In this class, participants will be introduced to Gwendolyn Brooks’ favorite poet, Ugandan poet Okot p’Bitek (1931-1982) from Gulu, Northern Uganda. Did you know that when Joy Harjo began writing poetry, she looked for indigenous poetry traditions connecting colonization with native languages translated to English and one of the African poets she studied was Okot p’ Bitek? Did you know that p’ Bitek’s poem “Song of Lawino” influenced Joy Harjo? 

• Participants will read from p’ Bitek’s famous works “Song of Lawino” and “Song of Ocol”.
• We will do a writing prompt from an excerpt of his poems. 
• Participants will also get a general overview of p’ Bitek’s books and receive a list of p’ Bitek books and articles for further reading.