Bate Besong

Bate Besong: The Man

Culled from George Ngwane (1993) Bate Besong (Or the Symbol of Anglophone Hope). Limbe: Noomerac Press.

Bate Besong is Bate Besong. If you call him Besong Bate, it will be somebody else. His name refuses to obey the law of choice. Born on 8th May 1954 at Ikot Ansa Calabar, former Eastern Nigeria, of Cameroonian parents from Ndekwai Mamfe, Bate Besong (BB) began his secondary education at St. Bedes College, Ashing Kom. While in Kom, his passion for Art was nursed and nurtured as he developed an interest for music, playing in the school orchestra with mates like Kenneth Komtaghi of the "Do Good" fame and earning the show business tag of James Brown (JB).

Academic and Professional Snapshot

Senior Lecturer in Drama & Critical Theory, University of Buea, Cameroon (1999 – Present), with focus on Cameroon Literature, Theory and History of African Literature, Cultural Studies, Creative Writing, Critical Theory, Play Production.

Education
1. Ph.D. English & Literary Studies, University of Calabar, Calabar, NIGERIA

2. M.A. English, University of Ibadan, Ibadan NIGERIA

3. B.A. (Hons) English & Literary Studies, University of Calabar, NIGERIA

BB: Creative and Academic Honours

1. At 24, published Polyphemus Detainee & Other Skulls (Scholars Press 1980) and launched by Professor Chinua Achebe, on the 26th April, 1980, at Calabar University, Nigeria.

2. Laureate of M.S.F. Award for Literature and Culture.

3. Patron Publishing House Certificate for Artistic Excellence.

4. 1992 Cameroon Post Literary Man of the Year Award. Received commendations/gifts from the Director of the American Cultural Centre, Hilton Hotel, Yaounde.

5. Literary Editor Cameroon Life Magazine

BB: A Select Bibliography

(A) PUBLICATIONS: ACADEMIC

Essays

________ 1993: Literature in the Season of the Diaspora: Notes to the Anglophone Cameroonian Writer’ Nalova Lyonga, Bole Butake, Eckhard Breitinger (ed) Anglophone Cameroon Writing. Bayreuth: RFA/Germany. 5 – 18.

________ 1997: “Who’s Afraid of Anglophone Theatre “I & II”. London: West Africa, 7 – 3 July pp 1106 – 1107, 14-20 July 1146.

________ 2001: “The Limits of a Manichean Vision and the Egoist Hero in Post Colonial Bourgeois Theatre”: Epasa Moto: A Bilingual Journal of Language and Literatures. University of Buea. Vol. 1. No. 479 – 98.

________ 2002: “Ontogenesis of Modern Anglophone Cameroon Drama and its Criticism: Excursus”: VOICES The Wisconsin Review of African Languages and Literatures. University of Wisconsin 1414 Van Hise, 1220 Linden Drive, Madison, W1537306 Vol. 1 No. 5 1-19.