Olóyè Ulli Beier: Yọrùbá aláwọ̀ funfun

Olóyè Ulli Beier: Yọrùbá aláwọ̀ funfun

Born into a Jewish middle class family in Chotwitz (today Poland) in July of 1922. Ulli was teaching handicapped children in Battersea in 1949 when he spotted a newspaper advertisement for a position as lecturer in English at University College Ibadan.

Ulli came to Nigeria in 1950,with his wife, the renowned Austrian artist and later high priestess of the Osun Groove in Oshogbo, Suzanne Wenger.

After living in Ede and Ilobu, Ulli settled in Oshogbo in 1958, where he continued to eagerly learn about Yoruba arts and culture. He took part in Yoruba everyday and ritual life, collected stories and took photographs. In subsequent years he wrote a great number of articles and books on Yoruba culture.

In 1957 he founded Black Orpheus, a literary magazine that was to become a most important journal, not only in Nigeria, but in Africa and the black world. It was in this magazine that many of the continent’s leading writers such as Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, John Pepper Clark, the late Christopher Okigbo and others were first published.

Some of his works include: Yoruba Myths, Not even God is ripe enough, Yoruba poetry and many more.