Mwatabu S. Okantah

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Mwatabu S. Okantah (b. August 18, 1952 in Newark, New Jersey, United States) is an American poet, essayist, professor, and vocalist.

He holds a B.A. degree in English and African Studies from Kent State University (1976), where he studied with Halim El-Dabh and Fela Sowande. He earned a M.A. in creative writing from the City College of New York in 1982.

He is currently an Assistant Professor and Poet in Residence in the Department of Pan-African Studies at Kent State University, and also serves as the Director of that university's Center of Pan-African Culture.

He is the lead vocalist with the Muntu Kuntu Energy Ensemble and has performed frequently with the Cavani String Quartet of Cleveland, Ohio.[1]

His surname, Okantah, means "breaker of rock" in the Ga language of Ghana. "Mwatabu" is Swahili for "born in a time of tribulation or sorrow."

[edit] Books

Okantah, Mwatabu (1977). --To Sing a Dark Song. Beachwood, Ohio: Sharaqua Pub. Co.
Okantah, Mwatabu S. (1983). Afreeka Brass. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland State University Poetry Center.
Okantah, Mwatabu (1984). Collage: Poems. Detroit, Michigan: Lotus Press.
Okantah, Mwatabu (1997). Cheikh Anta Diop: Poem for the Living: A Poem. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Black History Museum, UMUM/LOH Pub.
Okantah, Mwatabu S. (2004). Reconnecting Memories: Dreams No Longer Deferred: New & Selected Poems. Trenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press.