Wole Soyinka(1934 — ?)
Wole Soyinka
Nigeria
5 min read
Wole Soyinka is a Nigerian writer, playwright, and poet born in 1934. The first African author to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986, he is a major figure in the defense of human rights and freedom in Africa.
Frequently asked questions
Famous Quotes
« A tiger does not proclaim his tigritude, he pounces.»
Key Facts
- Born on July 13, 1934, in Abeokuta, Nigeria
- Imprisoned from 1967 to 1969 during the Biafran War for his outspoken stances
- First African writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1986
- Author of major plays such as A Dance of the Forests (1960) and Death and the King's Horseman (1975)
- Forced into exile in the 1990s under the dictatorship of Sani Abacha
Works & Achievements
Play created for Nigeria's independence, which refuses to idealize the past and warns the young nation.
Satirical comedy about the clash between village tradition and modernity, among his most frequently performed plays.
Prison notes written during his detention, a manifesto against silence in the face of tyranny.
Drama based on a true event and Yoruba cosmology, considered his theatrical masterpiece.
Acclaimed autobiographical account of his childhood, blending tenderness, humor, and a look at colonial society.
First Nobel literary prize awarded to an African writer, honoring his entire body of work.
Anecdotes
During the Biafran War, Wole Soyinka was imprisoned from 1967 to 1969, much of it in solitary confinement. Deprived of paper, he wrote poems between the lines of the few books he was allowed and on scraps of toilet paper. These texts would become the book *The Man Died* (1972).
In October 1965, Soyinka allegedly burst into a studio of the Western Nigerian regional radio station and, at gunpoint, had a politician's victory speech replaced with a message denouncing rigged elections. Tried for the act, he was ultimately acquitted.
In 1986, he became the very first African writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. He dedicated his Nobel lecture to **Nelson Mandela**, then still imprisoned in South Africa under the apartheid regime.
A famous critic of the Négritude movement, Soyinka is said to have coined the line that became renowned: “A tiger does not proclaim its tigritude, it pounces on its prey.” A way of saying that identity is proven through actions rather than slogans.
Under the dictatorship of General **Sani Abacha**, threatened with death, Soyinka fled Nigeria in **1994**, slipping clandestinely across a border. In **1997**, the regime sentenced him to death in absentia; he would not return to the country until after Abacha's death in **1998**.
Primary Sources
“The man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny.”
Soyinka dedicates his speech to Nelson Mandela and denounces the South African apartheid system as a disgrace to humanity.
An autobiographical account in which Soyinka recounts his childhood in Abeokuta, between the family's Christian home, school, and the world of Yoruba traditions.
In his preface, Soyinka warns that the play should not be reduced to a mere “clash of cultures,” but understood through the Yoruba worldview and the notion of duty.
Key Places
Town in western Nigeria where Soyinka was born in 1934 and where he spent the childhood recounted in 'Aké'.
Where he pursued his higher education in Nigeria, later an important intellectual and theatrical hub of his career.
Where Soyinka studied English literature in the late 1950s before returning to Nigeria.
London theatre where Soyinka worked as a play reader, a formative period in his career as a playwright.
Where he was held, often in solitary confinement, during the Biafran War between 1967 and 1969.
