biography
| name: |
Ngugi wa Thiong'o
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| |
formerly James Ngugi
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pronunciation:
[ngoogee wa tyongg
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1938– )
|
| biography:
| Writer, born in Limuru, WC Kenya. He studied at Makerere and Leeds universities, and taught English at Nairobi University, where he became chairman of the department of literature (1972–7). His award-winning novel Weep Not, Child (1964) was the first novel in English by an East African. The theme of Kenya's struggle for independence is further explored in later novels, The River Between (1965), A Grain of Wheat (1967), and Petals of Blood (1977). He then gave up using English as the medium for his fiction (though continuing to use it for translation and other purposes), arguing that the continuing use of local languages (Kikuyu, in his case) was a prerequisite for political reform. He wrote several plays, notably The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (1977), and co-wrote Ngaahika Ndeenda (I Will Marry When I Want), which led to his year-long detention without trial (1978). His ordeal is described in Detained (1981). He has lived in exile since 1982. In 1996 he received the Fonlon-Nichols Award, given annually for excellence in African creative writing and contributions to the struggle for human rights and freedom of expression. |
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