with him and with us now, was his nephew and fellow poet, kwame dawes, professor at the university of nebraska and editor of the journal, "prairie schooner". kwame, welcome back to our program, let me offer condolences for the death of your uncle. >> it's good to be back, jeff, and thank you so much. appreciate it. >> brown: tell us who he was and why he was such an important figure in ghana and throughout africa? >> kofi belonged to that generation of african poets and african writers that emerged in the late '50s and early '60s who saw a vista of possibility in independence and in a new vision of africa, pan africanist view of africa. and his first book of poems came out in 1964. he was about 26 years old at the time. he would continue to write poetry and novels and he had this wonderful sort of role as this great statesman, a fantastic professor and teacher, people in ghana know him as prof and became an international figure as an ambassador and diplomat. so there's a great loss in ghana because this was a major figure. >> brown: what did he write about? how did he combine his inte

kwame dawes remembers his uncle, a renowned writer and diplomat from ghana, among those killed in the terror attack in kenya. kofi belong to that generation of african poets and writers that emerged in the late '50s and early '60s who saw

kwame dawes remembers his uncle, a renowned writer and diplomat from ghana, among those killed in the terror attack in kenya. kofi belong to that generation of african poets and writers that emerged in the late '50s and early '60s who saw a a vista of independence and a new vision of africa. >> woodruff: those are just some of the stories we're covering on tonight's "pbs newshour." >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: our lead story tonight: a bill to fund government operations beyond the end of the month cleared its first procedural hurdle today. it was a rare unanimous vote. "newshour" congressional correspondent kwame holman begins our coverage. >> on this vote,

kwame dawes remembers his uncle, a renowned writer and diplomat from ghana, among those killed in the terror attack in kenya.