Come to think of it, Africa has produced many remarkable female literary critics and academics over the decades - like Ama Ata Aidoo (Ghana), Assia Djebar (Algeria), Menan Du Plessis, Zoe Wicomb (both South Africans) ... Nigeria's Molara Ogundipe Leslie, like Aidoo, was one of the Black women literary pioneers from west Africa.
Leslie contributed a lot to the growth and promotion of African literature, from inception. She appreciated the early established African wordsmiths - males - but was never afraid to criticise them. She had early respect (her writings reveal this) for the greats like Wole Soyinka and Ayi Kwei Armah, but if she felt they should be censored, she did so in her earnest manner.
Hence if she found some aspects distasteful in their disparate writings, she would pount this out, be it suggestions of "chauvinism" or "narcissism". In her many critical essays her intellectualism and nous stood out, with the broad canvas and striations all grist to her mill.
Omolara Leslie's style of writing/criticism was direct, lucid and passionate. And well researched. Her message and thrust was delivered quite simply and made a lot of sense. She knew what she was all about and essentially basked in the writings of assorted writers and books.
Early on, Leslie began to write splendid reviews for journals and magazines, including Okike from the early 70s. It was clear that she could not stand women being undermined. Her books are also a testament to her.
She was born in Lagos, and attended Queen's School, Ede, and went on to become the first woman to obtain a first-class BA Honours degree in English at University College, Ibadan, then a college of the University of London. She also studied at Leiden University which has extensive studies/material on African Writing. She became a globally recognised scholar and writer.
As a scholar, critic, educator and activist, Ogundipe is of course recognized as one of the most prominent and innovative writers on African women and feminism. Her works creatively capture most the nuances and complexities of African life.
She died in 2019.
Published works
Sew the Old Days and Other Poems, 1985
Re-Creating Ourselves: African Women and Critical Transformations, 1994
(ed.) Women as Oral Artists, 1994
(ed. with Carole Boyce Davies) Moving Beyond Boundaries, April 1995 (two volumes).
Gender and subjectivity. Readings of "Song of Lawino". Dissertation Leiden University. Leiden, CNWS, 1999
