Renowned Nigerian Poet, Gabriel Okara, Dies At 97

Renowned Nigerian poet and novelist, Gabriel Okara, has died. He was 97. The literary icon passed died on Sunday at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, four weeks before his 98th birthday.

Born in 1921 in Boumandi in present day Bayelsa State, Mr Okara was part of the golden set of pioneer African writers.

He was the first renowned English language black poet and also the first modernist writer on the African continent.