Gabriel Imomotimi Gbaingbain Okara was a novelist and poet. His first novel ‘The Voice,’ published in 1964, was experimental and said to be a direct translation from Ijaw.
 He was the first Nigerian writer to be published in the influential journal ‘Black Orpheus.’

EARLY LIFE

On April 24, 1921, Gabriel Okara was born in Bumoundi, Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. He attended Government College, Umuahia, and Yaba Higher College, Lagos.
He worked as a printer and bookbinder and started writing scripts for radio during this time and translating poetry from Ijaw to English.   Later, he would attend Northwestern University in the United States, where he studied journalism.

CAREER

Okara worked as Information Officer for the former Eastern Nigerian civil service. 
He was appointed director of the Rivers State Publishing House in Port Harcourt in 1972 and remained in the position for eight years.

LEGACY

Okara’s writings have been translated into several languages and won significant awards. He has been referred to as the Nigerian Negritudist. The Gabriel Okara Literary Festival in 2017 was held in Port Harcourt in his honour. Some of his works are: 
The Call of the River Nun (poem 1950)
The Voice (novel 1964)
The Fisherman’s Invocation (poems 1978)
Little Snake and Little Frog (children’s 1981)
An Adventure to Juju Island (children’s 1992)
The Dreamer, His Vision (poems 2005)
As I see It (poems 2006)
The Piano and the Drums
Collected Poems (2016).

AWARDS

Best All-Round Entry in Poetry at the Nigerian Festival of Arts for "The Call of the River Nun (1953)
Commonwealth Poetry Prize for The Fisherman's Invocation (1979)
 NLNG Prize for The Dreamer, His Vision (2005)
Pan African Writers' Association Honorary Membership Award (2009).

DEATH

Okara died in Yenagoa on March 25, 2019.

SOURCES

Wikipedia - 
Britannica 
Vanguard: