Mwatabu S. Okantah holds the BA degree in English and African Studies from Kent State University (1976) and the MA in Creative Writing from the
City College of New York (1982). Currently, he is an Assistant Professor and Poet in Residence in the Department of Pan-African Studies at Kent State University. A former Director of the Center of Pan-African Culture, Mr. Okantah has appeared as a poet and motivational speaker in various locations throughout the USA and West Africa.
As a performer, he has worked in a variety of musical situations, including time as Griot for the Iroko African Drum & Dance Society and in an ongoing collaboration with the Cavani String Quartet, "Collage: Poetry and Music." He is the leader of his own performance group, the Muntu Kuntu Energy Ensemble. Honors include Selection to the 5th Edition of Who's Who Among Teachers in America, inclusion in the International Who's Who in Poetry and selection in Outstanding Writers of the 20th Century by the International Biographical Centre.
In 1994, Okantah served as a special guest guide for Sankofa Tours in Senegal and Ghana. In 1988, he was named a Rotary International Group Study Exchange Fellow in Nigeria. Mr. Okantah has also taught at Union College, The Livingston College of Rutgers University, Cleveland State University and Lakeland Community College. He is the author of AFREEKA BRASS (1983), COLLAGE (1984), LEGACY: FOR MARTIN AND MALCOLM (1987) and CHEIKH ANTA DIOP: POEM FOR THE LIVING (1997)--published as a limited trilingual edition in English, French and Wolof, with illustrations by Tom Feelings. Poetry and creative non-fiction have been anthologized in WHY L. A. HAPPENED (1993), SOUL LOOKS BACK IN WONDER (1994), THE SECOND SET, Vol. 2 (1996), WARPLAND (1999), JOURNEY TO TIMBOOKTU (2001), BEYOND THE FRONTIER: AFRICAN-AMERICAN POETRY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY (2002), ALEHOUSE: POETRY ON TAP, Number 1 (2007), GWENDOLYN BROOKS AND WORKING WRITERS (2007) and POET'S BOOKSHELF: CONTEMOPRARY POETS ON BOOKS THAT SHAPED THEIR ART, Vol. 2 (2007).
A spoken word & original music CD, Guerrilla Dread: Griot Stylee, is forthcoming. Mr. Okantah's current book of poetry is RECONNECTING MEMORIES: DREAMS NO LONGER DEFERRED (2004).Baba Okantah lives in Akron, Ohio with his wife, five of his seven children and two Siamese cats--Marley & Myles.
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