MEET PROF ISIDIORE O DIALA the new Deputy Vice Chancellor ACADEMICS IMO STATE UNIVERSITY.
Prof. Isidiore O Diala the New Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academics of imo state university.
Prof Isidore Diala holds a B.A (Hons.) in English and Literary Studies from Imo State University Etiti (now: Abia State University, Uturu) Nigeria, and an M.A in the same field from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. His Ph.D. thesis on the fiction of the South African novelist, Andre Brink, was also written at the University of Ibadan. Beginning his university teaching career at Abia State University Uturu, Diala is currently Professor of African literature in the Department of English, Imo State University, Owerri, Nigeria. A Humboldt Research Fellow in the Department of English, University of Münster (affiliated to the Chair of English, Postcolonial and Media Studies) from November 2010-April 2012, Diala was also a Visiting Research Fellow, Centre of African Studies, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom from October 2005 to March 2006.
He is currently engaged in a book-length study of the drama of the Nigerian playwright, Esiaba Irobi (1960-2010) titled “Esiaba Irobi’s Drama and the Postcolony: Theory and Practice of Postcolonial Performance” as well as an edited volume of essays on African drama in honour of Esiaba Irobi. Apart from scholarly work, Diala has also published award-winning creative writing. His play, The Pyre, was joint-winner of the Association of Nigerian Writers’ Drama Prize in 1992 and his poetry volume, The Lure of Ash, was the winner of the Association of Nigerian Writers’/ Cadbury Poetry Prize in 1998.
Prof Diala has held varying lengths of research fellowships at the Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala, Sweden, and the Universities of Cambridge and London both in the UK. He has equally been an Alexander Humboldt research fellow at Westfälische Wilhems Universität, Münster, Germany. His most recent publications include André P. Brink: Politics and a New Humanism (2018) and the edited volume, Obumselu on African Literature: The Intellectual Muse (2019). Diala is presently on a six-month (1st July to 31st December) renewed Humboldt research fellowship to examine the impact of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (LNLG) Literature Prize, now in its fifteenth year of award, on current Nigerian writing. Apart from his scholarly writing, Diala has also published award-winning drama and poetry.
E-mail: isidorediala@yahoo.com
Phone: +49-(0)251-83-24502
The management and university community wish him fruitful tenure in office.
