– Kenya
Having passed on recently at the age of 87, in his lifetime Ngugi WA Thiongo earned an honor of being one of the celebrated icons as far as African Literature is concerned. Our team brings you some of the unique aspects most didn’t know about Ngugi;
5. He was born James Thiongo Ngugiin the town of Limuru, in 1938; this was when Kenya was still under the British Colonial Rule.
4. His family was among the victims to the Mau Mau Uprising (1952-1960), where many were arrested and killed in the crackdowns.
3. In 1959 he left for Uganda where he joined Makerere University.
2. While at Makerere University, at a Writers’ Conference he shared his manuscript with Chinua Acebe, who further forwarded it to the UK, hence the birth of ‘Weep Not Child’ his debut novel in 1964, the first English language novel from East Africa.
1. As part of his stronger advocacy to Pan Africanism, till his demise Ngugi had vowed to solely deliver to the African audience, where his books were nolonger being published in English, but the Gikuyu Language.
