Soyinka, Wole, 1934-

Wole Soyinka was born in Nigeria in 1934 and educated at the University College, Ibadan (later the University of Ibadan) from 1952-54 and the University of Leeds (B.A., 1957). While in England, he served as a playreader at the Royal Court Theatre. Returning to the newly independent Nigeria in 1960, he held teaching appointments at the University of Ife, Ibadan (1962-63), and the University of Lagos (1965-67). Professor Soyinka was Head of the Department of Theatre Arts at the University of Ibadan from 1969 to 1972 and Head of the Department of Dramatic Arts at the University of Ife from 1975 to 1985. During the Nigerian civil war, he was imprisoned by the military government and served two years before being released in 1969. He has held teaching posts as a visiting lecturer at many universities in the United States, most recently as a professor in African American Studies at Emory University.

His many plays include <emph render="italic">The Lion and the jewel</emph>, <emph render="italic">A Dance of the forests</emph>, and <emph render="italic">Death and the king's horseman</emph>. He is also a noted novelist , memoirist , essayist, and poet. He has been involved in international literary movements (Union of Writers of the African Peoples [UWAP] ) as well as global humanitarian efforts (Amnesty International, UNESCO), and is much in demand as a lecturer and speaker, known for his passionate commitment to civil liberty in his own country and around the world. In 1986, Soyinka was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

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Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka (Yoruba: Akínwándé Olúwo̩lé Babátúndé S̩óyíinká; born 13 July 1934), known as Wole Soyinka (pronounced [wɔlé ʃójĩnká]), is a Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist in the English language. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature,[2] the first sub-Saharan African to be honoured in that category.[3][a] Soyinka was born into a Yoruba family in Abeokuta. In 1954, he attended Government College in Ibadan,[4] and subsequently University College Ibadan and the University of Leeds in England.[5] After studying in Nigeria and the UK, he worked with the Royal Court Theatre in London. He went on to write plays that were produced in both countries, in theatres and on radio. He took an active role in Nigeria's political history and its campaign for independence from British colonial rule. In 1965, he seized the Western Nigeria Broadcasting Service studio and broadcast a demand for the cancellation of the Western Nigeria Regional Elections.[6] In 1967, during the Nigerian Civil War, he was arrested by the federal government of General Yakubu Gowon and put in solitary confinement for two years ...

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