Wole Soyinka.
Wole Soyinka is a Nigerian playwright, poet, and political activist. He contributed tremendously to the development of modern theatre in Nigeria. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986. He was the first Black African to be awarded the prize and was cited by the Nobel Committee for his “vivid, often harrowing” works marked by an evocative poetically intensified diction. He blended traditional Nigerian culture with western effusions often bringing into the fore the setbacks of African societies vis-à-vis western civilization’s influence on African societies which, in many ways are incompatible with reality. Thus, he has always spoken out against political injustice, and he paid dearly with his political positions when the military authorities in Nigeria imprisoned him during the country’s civil war in the late 60’s.
As dramatist, Soyinka has been influenced by, among others, the Irish writer, J.M. Synge, but links up with the traditional popular African theatre with its combination of dance, music, and action. He bases his writing on the mythology of his own tribe-the Yoruba-with Ogun, the god of iron and war, at the center.
Soyinka’s poems, which show a close connection to his plays, are collected in Idanre, and Other Poems (1967), Poems from Prison (1969), A Shuttle in the Crypt (1972) the long poem Ogun Abibiman (1976) and Mandela’s Earth and Other Poems (1988).
Blog post by Daniel Asomah
Wole Soyinka is a Nigerian playwright, poet, and author. He contributed tremendously to the development of modern theatre in Nigeria. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986. He was the first Black African to be awarded the prize and was cited by the Nobel Committee for his "vivid, often harrowing" works marked by an evocative poetically intensified diction.
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