Celebrated Nigerian writer Prof. Wole Soyinka has lost election for the post of Professor of Poetry at Britain’s Oxford University. He was beaten with 301 votes by a former probation officer Simon Armitage.

The Professor of Poetry is a unique academic appointment at the University of Oxford. The professorship carries an obligation to lecture, but is in effect a part-time position, requiring only three lectures each year.

Armitage, the popular poet and broadcaster, secured 1,221 votes. Soyinka got 920 votes.

Soyinka, the first African writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature and a respected playwright and political activist, was an early favourite for the post after garnering by far the highest number of nominations. However, his chances were scuppered when one of the most recognised voters, Lord Melvyn Bragg, switched his support to the eventual winner, claiming Soyinka, 80, was too old and unsuitably committed to the job.

According to The Telegraph of London, “Some of Soyinka’s supporters were furious about the decision. Andrew Franklin, the publisher and founder of Profile Books who has published Soyinka’s work, called the decision ‘collective madness’ and said: ‘Why couldn’t Oxford have voted for its first ever black professor of poetry? Simon Armitage is good but this is a collective failure of imagination. It just would have been nice to see Oxford do something different.

“Maybe Oxford is just full of dull old farts who only vote for the obvious. I don’t think they have anything to be proud of here’.

“Of Lord Bragg’s intervention in the race, and in particular his mention of Soyinka’s age, Franklin said: ‘I think Melvyn Bragg was just making trouble. He’s hardly a spring chicken himself but he still makes a contribution and is one of the most thoughtful broadcasters on radio. People don’t tell him he’s too old.

“ ‘And what does age have to do with it? It’s not as if Wole would have had his finger on the nuclear button.’

“The voting was open to all Oxford graduates who registered an interest. Lord Bragg was eligible as a former student of Wadham College.

“Others pointed to Soyinka’s failure to submit written plans for his time in the post as an indication that he would not be fully committed.”

Soyinka defended himself by noting that his failure to submit written plans early was because he had been bogged down by the recent Nigerian elections.

•Photo shows Prof. Wole Soyinka.

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