This Gabriel Okara biography tells the story of one of Africa’s most important poets. Okara wrote Once Upon a Time, one of the African poems on the WAEC and NECO syllabus for 2026 to 2030. Knowing about his life will help you understand the ideas in his poetry.

Gabriel Okara biography: quick facts

Gabriel Okara’s early life and education

Okara was born in 1921 in Bumoundi, a small town in the Niger Delta. His father was an Ijaw chief and businessman. Growing up by the rivers of the Delta, he absorbed the language, stories and customs of his people.

As a teenager, he won a place at Government College, Umuahia. Later, he moved to Yaba Higher College in Lagos, where he studied art. According to several accounts, reading the English Romantic poet William Wordsworth first inspired him to write poetry.

Work and first steps as a writer

During the Second World War, Okara worked for the British Overseas Airways Corporation. In 1945, he returned to Nigeria and became a printer and bookbinder at the government press. He stayed there for about nine years.

While binding books, he began to write. At first, he translated Ijaw poetry into English and wrote scripts for radio. Soon, his own poems started to attract attention.

His breakthrough came in 1953. That year, his poem The Call of the River Nun won an award at the Nigerian Festival of Arts. Some of his poems also appeared in Black Orpheus, an important journal for African writing. By 1960, he was known as a skilled literary craftsman.

Career in public service

Okara later studied journalism at Northwestern University in the United States. Back home, he worked as an information officer for the Eastern Nigerian Government.

During the Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970), he served Biafra. He travelled abroad to promote its cause, alongside the novelist Chinua Achebe. Sadly, many of his unpublished manuscripts were destroyed in the war.

After the war, he held senior posts in broadcasting and publishing in Rivers State. In 1982, the University of Port Harcourt awarded him an honorary doctorate.

Major works

The Voice (1964). This experimental novel is his most famous prose work. Okara shaped its English to follow the patterns of the Ijaw language.

The Fisherman’s Invocation (1978). His first poetry collection won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize in 1979.

The Dreamer, His Vision (2005). This later collection won the NLNG Nigeria Prize for Literature.

As I See It (2006). Another collection of his poems.

Children’s books. These include Little Snake and Little Frog (1981) and An Adventure to Juju Island (1992).

Among his best-known single poems are Piano and Drums, The Call of the River Nun, The Mystic Drum and, of course, Once Upon a Time.

Okara’s style and concerns

Okara’s poetry is built on contrasts. He often sets two symbols against each other, such as the piano and the drums, or the heart and the teeth. Through these pairs, he explores the tension between African tradition and Western influence.

His language looks simple, yet it carries deep feeling. Many critics call him the first modernist poet of English-speaking Africa. He drew on African thought, folklore and imagery throughout his work.

You can see all of this in Once Upon a Time. The poem contrasts past and present, child and adult, and sincerity and pretence. For more on these ideas, read our guides to the themes in Once Upon a Time and the background of the poem.

Death and legacy

Okara died in Yenagoa on 25 March 2019, a month before his 98th birthday. Today, he is honoured as one of the founders of modern African poetry in English. In 2017, the University of Port Harcourt held a literary festival in his name.

His poems remain popular in Nigerian schools because their message is timeless. Few readers can finish Once Upon a Time without recognising a little of themselves in the father.

Using the poet’s life in the exam

Examiners sometimes ask about the poet directly, so this Gabriel Okara biography is worth revising. More often, however, biography helps you explain a theme or image. For example, Okara’s experience of both village and city life explains the contrasts in his poems. Practise with our Once Upon a Time questions and answers, or explore the complete study guide.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Gabriel Okara?

He was a Nigerian poet and novelist of Ijaw origin, best known for The Voice and poems such as Piano and Drums and Once Upon a Time.

When was Gabriel Okara born and when did he die?

He was born in April 1921 and died on 25 March 2019, aged 97.

Where is Gabriel Okara from?

Bumoundi, near Yenagoa, in present-day Bayelsa State, Nigeria.

What awards did Gabriel Okara win?

He won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize in 1979 and the NLNG Nigeria Prize for Literature in 2005.