Joseph Akawu Ushie, known in literary circles simply as Joe Ushie, is an acclaimed poet from Cross River State and Professor of General Stylistics and Literary Criticism at the University of Uyo. His poetry collections include Popular Stand (1992), Lambs at the Shrine (1995), Eclipse in Rwanda (1998), Hill Songs (2000), A Reign of Locusts (2004), Tsunami Blues (2007), and Yawns and Belches (2018). Prof. Ushie was a Fellow of the 2002 Fulbright Programme in New York and also represented Africa at the 2005 “Worlds in Discourse” conference in Malaysia, as well as at the 2010 Philippine PEN International Conference, marking 50 years of PEN in the Philippines. His poems have appeared in world-wide anthologies, and have been translated into Spanish, Finnish, French and German, in addition to receiving numerous prizes and honours. His poem, “Africa Today,” was the only poem by an African writer to win entry into the 2015 Global Poetry Anthology in Montreal, Canada.
