Literature & Ideas
Peerless
Wole Soyinka
born 1934
The first African to win the Nobel Prize in Literature
Peerless is level 1 of 4 in the Nigeria Hall of Fame: changed the field itself. Tell the country's story without them and the story breaks. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
In 1986 he became the first African awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, for work the committee said fashions the drama of existence in a wide cultural perspective.
Born at Abeokuta in western Nigeria in July 1934, Soyinka has written across plays, poetry, novels and memoir, drawing Yoruba cosmology into forms borrowed from European theatre and bending both.
The 1986 Nobel Prize citation honoured a writer "who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence". He has also been a persistent political dissident, imprisoned during the Nigerian civil war and repeatedly at odds with military governments since.
The 1986 Nobel Prize citation honoured a writer "who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence". He has also been a persistent political dissident, imprisoned during the Nigerian civil war and repeatedly at odds with military governments since.
- The Nobel Prize — Wole Soyinka, facts
- The Nobel Prize — Wole Soyinka, biographical
- Britannica — Wole Soyinka
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