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A Survey of African Poetry in the London Times, Sunday Times, Financial Times, the Times Literary Supplement 1865-1985

Liyong, Taban Lo

Biography

South Sudan
Birth date: 1939-01-01
Birth location: Kajo Keji, South Sudan

Taban Lo Liyong was born in 1939 in Acholiland, South Sudan. A prolific and critically acclaimed writer, he attended the National Teachers College in Kampala. He earned his undergraduate degree at Knoxville College in Tennessee, and postgraduate degree at Howard University. He is the author of poetry collections such as Frantz Fanon's Uneven Ribs (1971), Another Nigger Dead (London, Heinemann, 1972), Ballads of Underdevelopment (Kampala, East African Literature, Bureau, 1976), The Cows of Shambat (Zimbabwe Publishing House, Harare, 1992), Words that Melt a Mountain (Nairobi, East African Educational Publishers, 1996), Carrying Knowledge Up a Palm Tree (1997), Corpse Lovers and Corpse Haters (2005), After Troy (2021), Meditations in Limbo (Nairobi, Equatorial, 1970), The Uniformed Man (Nairobi, East African Educational Publishers, 1971), The Meditations of Taban lo Liyong (1978), and others. He was the first African graduate from the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop.

Education

  • Bobi Full Primary School
  • Gulu High School
  • Sir Samuel Baker Secondary School
  • National Teacher's College
  • Knoxville College
  • Howard University
  • University of Iowa

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Relevant resources

Poet in Index of Poets

Liyong, Taban Lo