F. Abiola Irele, Nigerian literary critic, Died at 81

  Educator

Francis Abiola Irele known as Abiola Irele, May 22, 1936 and died on July 2, 2017.

He was a Nigerian academic.

He was best known as the doyen of Africanist literary scholars worldwide.

Irele was Provost at the newly founded Kwara State University in Ilorin, Nigeria.

After moving back to Nigeria, Irele was Visiting Professor of African and African American Studies and of Romance Languages and Literatures at Harvard University.

He graduated from Ibadan University in 1960.

Immediately after graduation, Irele went to Paris to learn French and completed a Ph.D in French at the University of Paris, Sorbonne in 1966.

Francis Abiola Irele passed away at 81 years old.