James Gibbs

James Gibbs (194*-) is an academic and a specialist on African drama.

Biography

Born in South Wales, James Gibbs was awarded degrees by the Universities of Bristol and Leeds, and by American University, Washington D.C.

Contribution to theatre, film, media and/or performance studies

Starting in 1968, he taught drama and literature at universities in Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Belgium and the UK, retiring from the University of the West of England (Bristol) in 2007.

His publications include plays, a study of Wole Soyinka and a collection of essays on the Ghanaian Theatre.

As an editor / compiler, he has had the privilege of working with Jack Mapanje, Kofi Anyidoho, Femi Osofisan, Bernth Lindfors, H L Gates Jnr and Ketu Katrak on volumes related to African Writers, Ghanaian Culture, African Theatre, and Wole Soyinka. He was co-founder, with Osofisan and Martin Banham, of African Theatre and, for a time, was reviews editor of African Literature Today.

In 2009, Nkyin-Kyin, Gibbs’s ‘Essays on the Ghanaian Theatre’ appeared as number 98 in the Cross Cultures series Readings in Post / Colonial Literatures in English. In 2013, Bernth Lindfors and Geoffrey V. Davis edited African Literature and Beyond, a florilegium that contained tributes to him and essays on a wide range of topics. Gibbs's recent publications include an obituary of Gerald Moore (in African Literature Today) and a paper on Klaus Stephan’s Taiwo Shango. (Journal of African Cultural Studies, 37, 3 - September 2025).

In 2024, he was made an Honorary member of the African Theatre Association.