7 Facts You Need To Know About Wole Soyinka As He Turns 81 Today

Wole Soyinka was born Akinwande Oluwole “Wole” Babatunde Soyinka on July 13, 1934, in Abeokuta, Nigeria.

Soyinka is an author, playwright and poet, who has published hundreds of works, including drama, novels, essays and poetry, and colleges all over the world are seeking him out as a visiting professor.

Akinwande Oluwole “Wole” Soyinka

On the event of his 81st birthday Naij.com has compiled 7 facts about the great playwright you need to know:

1.He has been married thrice and divorced twice.

2. He was imprisoned for 22 months as civil war ensued between the federal government and the Biafrans.

READ ALSO: I Was Told To Warn Amaechi By Aso rock But… – Soyinka

3. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first African to be honored.

4. He taught at the universities of Oxford, Harvard and Yale.

5. From 1975 to 1999, he was a Professor of Comparative Literature at the Obafemi Awolowo University, then called the University of Ife.

READ ALSO: Soyinka Meets Presidential Candidate, His Student, Guess Who

6. Soyinka has been a strong critic of successive Nigerian governments, especially the country’s many military dictators, as well as other political tyrannies, including the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe.

7. He took an active role in Nigeria’s political history and its struggle for independence from Great Britain.

 

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