Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka (Yoruba: Akínwándé Olúwo̩lé Babátúndé S̩óyíinká; born 13 July 1934), known as Wole Soyinka (), is a Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist in the English language.
His second cousins include musicians Femi Kuti and Seun Kuti, and dancer Yeni Kuti. In 1940, after attending St.
In 1946 he was accepted by Government College in Ibadan, at that time one of Nigeria's elite secondary schools. After finishing his course at Government College in 1952, he began studies at University College Ibadan (1952–54), affiliated with the University of London.
The next year another part of his autobiography appeared: Ibadan: The Penkelemes Years (A Memoir: 1946–1965).
After its fifth issue (November 1959), Soyinka replaced Jahnheinz Jahn to become coeditor for the literary periodical Black Orpheus (its name derived from a 1948 essay by Jean-Paul Sartre, "Orphée Noir", published as a preface to Anthologie de la nouvelle poésie nègre et malgache, edited by Léopold Senghor).
This was founded in 1957 by the German scholar Ulli Beier, who had been teaching at the University of Ibadan since 1950. Soyinka received a Rockefeller Research Fellowship from University College in Ibadan, his alma mater, for research on African theatre, and he returned to Nigeria.
His first marriage was in 1958 to the late British writer Barbara Dixon, whom he met at the University of Leeds in the 1950s.
In 1946 he was accepted by Government College in Ibadan, at that time one of Nigeria's elite secondary schools. After finishing his course at Government College in 1952, he began studies at University College Ibadan (1952–54), affiliated with the University of London.
It is organised by the National Association of Seadogs (Pyrates Confraternity), which organisation Soyinka with six other students founded in 1952 at the then University College Ibadan. In 2011, the African Heritage Research Library and Cultural Centre built a writers' enclave in his honour.
In the year 1953–54, his second and last at University College, Soyinka began work on "Keffi's Birthday Treat", a short radio play for Nigerian Broadcasting Service that was broadcast in July 1954.
In 1954, he attended Government College in Ibadan, and subsequently University College Ibadan and the University of Leeds in England.
In the year 1953–54, his second and last at University College, Soyinka began work on "Keffi's Birthday Treat", a short radio play for Nigerian Broadcasting Service that was broadcast in July 1954.
While at university, Soyinka and six others founded the Pyrates Confraternity, an anti-corruption and justice-seeking student organisation, the first confraternity in Nigeria. Later in 1954, Soyinka relocated to England, where he continued his studies in English literature, under the supervision of his mentor Wilson Knight at the University of Leeds (1954–57).
They dealt with the uneasy relationship between progress and tradition in Nigeria. In 1957, his play The Invention was the first of his works to be produced at the Royal Court Theatre.
This was founded in 1957 by the German scholar Ulli Beier, who had been teaching at the University of Ibadan since 1950. Soyinka received a Rockefeller Research Fellowship from University College in Ibadan, his alma mater, for research on African theatre, and he returned to Nigeria.
His first marriage was in 1958 to the late British writer Barbara Dixon, whom he met at the University of Leeds in the 1950s.
After its fifth issue (November 1959), Soyinka replaced Jahnheinz Jahn to become coeditor for the literary periodical Black Orpheus (its name derived from a 1948 essay by Jean-Paul Sartre, "Orphée Noir", published as a preface to Anthologie de la nouvelle poésie nègre et malgache, edited by Léopold Senghor).
On 1 October 1960, it premiered in Lagos as Nigeria celebrated its sovereignty.
Also in 1960, Soyinka established the "Nineteen-Sixty Masks", an amateur acting ensemble to which he devoted considerable time over the next few years. Soyinka wrote the first full-length play produced on Nigerian television.
Entitled My Father's Burden and directed by Segun Olusola, the play was featured on the Western Nigeria Television (WNTV) on 6 August 1960.
He is often quoted as having said, "A tiger doesn't proclaim his tigritude, he pounces." But in fact, Soyinka wrote in a 1960 essay for the Horn: "the duiker will not paint 'duiker' on his beautiful back to proclaim his duikeritude; you'll know him by his elegant leap." In Death and the King Horsemen he states: "The elephant trails no tethering-rope; that king is not yet crowned who will peg an elephant." In December 1962, Soyinka's essay "Towards a True Theater" was published.
He is often quoted as having said, "A tiger doesn't proclaim his tigritude, he pounces." But in fact, Soyinka wrote in a 1960 essay for the Horn: "the duiker will not paint 'duiker' on his beautiful back to proclaim his duikeritude; you'll know him by his elegant leap." In Death and the King Horsemen he states: "The elephant trails no tethering-rope; that king is not yet crowned who will peg an elephant." In December 1962, Soyinka's essay "Towards a True Theater" was published.
At the end of 1963, his first feature-length movie, Culture in Transition, was released.
His second marriage was in 1963 to Nigerian librarian Olaide Idowu, with whom he had three daughters – Moremi, Iyetade (deceased), Peyibomi – and a second son, Ilemakin.
In April 1964 The Interpreters, "a complex but also vividly documentary novel", was published in London. That December, together with scientists and men of theatre, Soyinka founded the Drama Association of Nigeria.
In 1964 he also resigned his university post, as a protest against imposed pro-government behaviour by the authorities.
In 1965, he seized the Western Nigeria Broadcasting Service studio and broadcast a demand for the cancellation of the Western Nigeria Regional Elections.
A few months later, in 1965, he was arrested for the first time, charged with holding up a radio station at gunpoint (as described in his 2006 memoir You Must Set Forth at Dawn) and replacing the tape of a recorded speech by the premier of Western Nigeria with a different tape containing accusations of election malpractice.
His play The Road premiered in London at the Commonwealth Arts Festival, opening on 14 September 1965, at the Theatre Royal.
In June 1965, he produced his play The Lion and The Jewel for Hampstead Theatre Club in London. ===Civil war and imprisonment=== After becoming chief of the Cathedral of Drama at the University of Ibadan, Soyinka became more politically active.
In April 1966, his play Kongi's Harvest was produced in revival at the World Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar, Senegal.
Following the military coup of January 1966, he secretly and unofficially met with the military governor Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu in the Southeastern town of Enugu (August 1967), to try to avert civil war.
doi:10.1353/mdr.1981.0042. ==External links== Wole Soyinka papers, 1966–1996.
Following the military coup of January 1966, he secretly and unofficially met with the military governor Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu in the Southeastern town of Enugu (August 1967), to try to avert civil war.
Though refused materials such as books, pens, and paper, he still wrote a significant body of poems and notes criticising the Nigerian government while in prison. Despite his imprisonment, in September 1967, his play The Lion and The Jewel was produced in Accra.
It was inspired by Soyinka's visit to the sanctuary of the Yorùbá deity Ogun, whom he regards as his "companion" deity, kindred spirit, and protector. In 1968, the Negro Ensemble Company in New York produced Kongi's Harvest.
Fagunwa, entitled A Hunter's Saga. ===Release and literary production=== In October 1969, when the civil war came to an end, amnesty was proclaimed, and Soyinka and other political prisoners were freed.
At the end of the year, he returned to his office as Headmaster of Cathedral of Drama in Ibadan. In 1970, he produced the play Kongi's Harvest, while simultaneously adapting it as a film of the same title.
In June 1970, he finished another play, called Madmen and Specialists.
It gave them all experience with theatrical production in another English-speaking country. In 1971, his poetry collection A Shuttle in the Crypt was published.
Soyinka travelled to Paris to take the lead role as Patrice Lumumba, the murdered first Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo, in the production of his Murderous Angels. In April 1971, concerned about the political situation in Nigeria, Soyinka resigned from his duties at the University in Ibadan, and began years of voluntary exile.
In July in Paris, excerpts from his well-known play The Dance of The Forests were performed. In 1972, his novel Season of Anomy and his Collected Plays were both published by Oxford University Press.
In 1984, a Nigerian court banned his 1972 book The Man Died: Prison Notes.
He was awarded an Honoris Causa doctorate by the University of Leeds in 1973.
From 1973 to 1975, Soyinka spent time on scientific studies.
He spent a year as a visiting fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge University 1973–74 and wrote Death and the King's Horseman, which had its first reading at Churchill College (which Dapo Ladimeji and Skip Gates attended), and gave a series of lectures at a number of European universities. In 1974, his Collected Plays, Volume II was issued by Oxford University Press.
He spent a year as a visiting fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge University 1973–74 and wrote Death and the King's Horseman, which had its first reading at Churchill College (which Dapo Ladimeji and Skip Gates attended), and gave a series of lectures at a number of European universities. In 1974, his Collected Plays, Volume II was issued by Oxford University Press.
From 1973 to 1975, Soyinka spent time on scientific studies.
In 1975 Soyinka was promoted to the position of editor for Transition, a magazine based in the Ghanaian capital of Accra, where he moved for some time.
After the political turnover in Nigeria and the subversion of Gowon's military regime in 1975, Soyinka returned to his homeland and resumed his position at the Cathedral of Comparative Literature at the University of Ife. In 1976, he published his poetry collection Ogun Abibiman, as well as a collection of essays entitled Myth, Literature and the African World.
In 1984, he directed the film Blues for a Prodigal; his new play A Play of Giants was produced the same year. During the years 1975–84, Soyinka was more politically active.
After the political turnover in Nigeria and the subversion of Gowon's military regime in 1975, Soyinka returned to his homeland and resumed his position at the Cathedral of Comparative Literature at the University of Ife. In 1976, he published his poetry collection Ogun Abibiman, as well as a collection of essays entitled Myth, Literature and the African World.
In October, the French version of The Dance of The Forests was performed in Dakar, while in Ife, his play Death and The King's Horseman premièred. In 1977, Opera Wọnyọsi, his adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's The Threepenny Opera, was staged in Ibadan.
In 1979 he both directed and acted in Jon Blair and Norman Fenton's drama The Biko Inquest, a work based on the life of Steve Biko, a South African student and human rights activist who was beaten to death by apartheid police forces.
Both works are very bitter political parodies, based on events that took place in Nigeria in the 1980s.
In 1981 Soyinka published his autobiographical work The Years of Childhood, which won a 1983 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. Soyinka founded another theatrical group called the Guerrilla Unit.
In 1981 Soyinka published his autobiographical work The Years of Childhood, which won a 1983 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. Soyinka founded another theatrical group called the Guerrilla Unit.
In 1983 his play Requiem for a Futurologist had its first performance at the University of Ife.
In 1984, he directed the film Blues for a Prodigal; his new play A Play of Giants was produced the same year. During the years 1975–84, Soyinka was more politically active.
In 1984, a Nigerian court banned his 1972 book The Man Died: Prison Notes.
In 1985, his play Requiem for a Futurologist was published in London by André Deutsch. ===Since 1986=== Soyinka was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986, becoming the first African laureate.
He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first sub-Saharan African to be honoured in that category. Soyinka was born into a Yoruba family in Abeokuta.
In 1985, his play Requiem for a Futurologist was published in London by André Deutsch. ===Since 1986=== Soyinka was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986, becoming the first African laureate.
In 1986, he received the Agip Prize for Literature. In 1988, his collection of poems Mandela's Earth, and Other Poems was published, while in Nigeria another collection of essays entitled Art, Dialogue and Outrage: Essays on Literature and Culture appeared.
7. "Wole Soyinka - Ake: The Years of Childhood", World Book Club, BBC World Service, 29 May 2007. Martin Banham, "Wole Soyinka: an appreciation", Leeds African Studies Bulletin, 45 (November 1986), pp.
While in the United States, he first taught at Cornell University as Goldwin Smith professor for African Studies and Theatre Arts from 1988 to 1991 and then at Emory University, where in 1996 he was appointed Robert W.
In 1986, he received the Agip Prize for Literature. In 1988, his collection of poems Mandela's Earth, and Other Poems was published, while in Nigeria another collection of essays entitled Art, Dialogue and Outrage: Essays on Literature and Culture appeared.
Soyinka married Folake Doherty in 1989. In 2014, he revealed his battle with prostate cancer. ==Legacy and honours== The Wole Soyinka Annual Lecture Series was founded in 1994 and "is dedicated to honouring one of Nigeria and Africa's most outstanding and enduring literary icons: Professor Wole Soyinka".
In 1990, a third novel, inspired by his father's intellectual circle, Isara: A Voyage Around Essay, appeared.
While in the United States, he first taught at Cornell University as Goldwin Smith professor for African Studies and Theatre Arts from 1988 to 1991 and then at Emory University, where in 1996 he was appointed Robert W.
In July 1991 the BBC African Service transmitted his radio play A Scourge of Hyacinths, and the next year (1992) in Siena (Italy), his play From Zia with Love had its premiere.
In 1993 Soyinka was awarded an honorary doctorate from Harvard University.
The International Parliament of Writers (IPW) was established in 1993 to provide support for writers victimized by persecution.
In October 1994, he was appointed UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for the Promotion of African culture, human rights, freedom of expression, media and communication. In November 1994, Soyinka fled from Nigeria through the border with Benin and then to the United States.
Soyinka married Folake Doherty in 1989. In 2014, he revealed his battle with prostate cancer. ==Legacy and honours== The Wole Soyinka Annual Lecture Series was founded in 1994 and "is dedicated to honouring one of Nigeria and Africa's most outstanding and enduring literary icons: Professor Wole Soyinka".
While in the United States, he first taught at Cornell University as Goldwin Smith professor for African Studies and Theatre Arts from 1988 to 1991 and then at Emory University, where in 1996 he was appointed Robert W.
In 1996 his book The Open Sore of a Continent: A Personal Narrative of the Nigerian Crisis was first published.
In 1997 he was charged with treason by the government of General Sani Abacha.
Soyinka became the organization's second president from 1997 to 2000.
That same year, a BBC-commissioned play called Document of Identity aired on BBC Radio 3, telling the lightly-fictionalized story of the problems his daughter's family encountered during a stopover in Britain when they fled Nigeria for the US in 1997; her baby was born prematurely in London and became a stateless person. His play King Baabu premièred in Lagos in 2001, a political satire on the theme of African dictatorship.
During the regime of General Sani Abacha (1993–98), Soyinka escaped from Nigeria on a motorcycle via the "NADECO Route." Abacha later proclaimed a death sentence against him "in absentia." With civilian rule restored to Nigeria in 1999, Soyinka returned to his nation.
Natural disasters had happened elsewhere, but how have you managed to take such in their strides?" In Nigeria, Soyinka was a Professor of Comparative literature (1975 to 1999) at the Obafemi Awolowo University, then called the University of Ife.
With civilian rule restored to Nigeria in 1999, he was made professor emeritus.
In 1999 a new volume of poems by Soyinka, entitled Outsiders, was released.
Soyinka became the organization's second president from 1997 to 2000.
That same year, a BBC-commissioned play called Document of Identity aired on BBC Radio 3, telling the lightly-fictionalized story of the problems his daughter's family encountered during a stopover in Britain when they fled Nigeria for the US in 1997; her baby was born prematurely in London and became a stateless person. His play King Baabu premièred in Lagos in 2001, a political satire on the theme of African dictatorship.
In 2002 a collection of his poems, Samarkand and Other Markets I Have Known, was published by Methuen.
A few months later, in 1965, he was arrested for the first time, charged with holding up a radio station at gunpoint (as described in his 2006 memoir You Must Set Forth at Dawn) and replacing the tape of a recorded speech by the premier of Western Nigeria with a different tape containing accusations of election malpractice.
In April 2006, his memoir You Must Set Forth at Dawn was published by Random House.
In 2006 he cancelled his keynote speech for the annual S.E.A.
Write Awards Ceremony in Bangkok to protest the Thai military's successful coup against the government. In April 2007, Soyinka called for the cancellation of the Nigerian presidential elections held two weeks earlier, beset by widespread fraud and violence.
7. "Wole Soyinka - Ake: The Years of Childhood", World Book Club, BBC World Service, 29 May 2007. Martin Banham, "Wole Soyinka: an appreciation", Leeds African Studies Bulletin, 45 (November 1986), pp.
It is organised by the National Association of Seadogs (Pyrates Confraternity), which organisation Soyinka with six other students founded in 1952 at the then University College Ibadan. In 2011, the African Heritage Research Library and Cultural Centre built a writers' enclave in his honour.
In 2013, he visited the Benin Moat as the representative of UNESCO in recognition of the Naija seven Wonders project.
He supported the freedom of worship but warned against the consequence of the illogic of allowing religions to preach apocalyptic violence. In August 2014, Soyinka delivered a recording of his speech "From Chibok with Love" to the World Humanist Congress in Oxford, hosted by the International Humanist and Ethical Union and the British Humanist Association.
He was awarded the 2014 International Humanist Award.
Soyinka married Folake Doherty in 1989. In 2014, he revealed his battle with prostate cancer. ==Legacy and honours== The Wole Soyinka Annual Lecture Series was founded in 1994 and "is dedicated to honouring one of Nigeria and Africa's most outstanding and enduring literary icons: Professor Wole Soyinka".
In December 2020, Soyinka described 2020 as the most challenging year in the nation's history.
He said: "With the turbulence that characterised year 2020, and as activities wind down, the mood has been repugnant and very negative.
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