Wole Soyinka: Africa's first Nobel laureate in literature
Born in Abeokuta in 1934, he has written 25 plays, three novels and five memoirs, and won the Nobel Prize in 1986.
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Abeokuta — In 1986 Wole Soyinka became the first African to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Swedish Academy praised the "wide cultural perspective" and "poetic overtones" with which he fashioned "the drama of existence".
Aké to Leeds
Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka was born on 13 July 1934 into an Anglican Yoruba family in Aké, Abeokuta. He studied at Government College and University College in Ibadan, where he co-founded the Pyrates Confraternity, then went to England to study at the University of Leeds, where he edited the university magazine, The Eagle.
He became a full-time writer in the 1950s. In Britain he wrote short stories and made recordings for the BBC, and his plays were staged on radio and in theatres in Nigeria and the UK, notably at London's Royal Court Theatre.
A vast body of work
Soyinka has written 25 plays, three novels, ten collections of short stories, seven poetry collections and five memoirs, as well as translations and countless essays and articles. Many of his novels and plays are set in Nigeria and draw on its history, culture and politics. His satirical writing has reached a wide public, and he is also an accomplished poet.
At 92, he remains one of Africa's most celebrated writers.
Background: Wikipedia.
