Almanac of Story Tellers: Wole Soyinka

Every day brings a new story.  And each day contributes to story telling -- in prose and in poetry, in art and in music, on the stage, on the screen, and, of course, in books. 

Today is the story of July 13th

 ___________________________________________________________________________

    It is the 194th day of the year, leaving 171 days remaining in 2022.

   

    On this date in 1934, the Nigerian novelist, poet, and playwright Wole Soyinka was born.

    He tells his stories of African culture, and his plays contain elements of traditional African dance and music. His novels interpret African experiences, drawing on African myths along with Greek and Roman mythology.

    Some of his plays contain light humor or satire to critique the clashes of traditional African culture with the Western influences on modern African leadership. He mocks pompous teachers and preachers who came from Western nations in an attempt to colonize African intellectuals and native peoples.

    In 1986, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature, the first person from sub-Saharan Africa to be named. The board said he uses "wide cultural perspective and . . . poetic overtones (to)  fashion the drama of existence."

    His works are studied in Nigeria; his poems appear in major anthologies, and his plays are produced around the world.

    Born in Nigeria of the Yoruba tribe, he was educated in Nigeria and England, graduating from the University of Leeds in 1958, and later earning a doctorate in 1973. His first work in theater was as a dramaturgist at the Royal Court Theatre in London.

    He returned to Nigeria to study African drama. He founded several theater groups, in which he wrote plays and often acted in them. One of his early plays, The Lion and The Jewel, in which he satirized the rapid modernization of Africa and the rapid evangelization of its people, caught the attentions of London theaters.

     Soyinka is also an activist and a proponent of democracy in his homeland. During the Nigerian Civil War in the late 1960s, he spent almost two years in prison for speaking out against the war and urging peace talks. In the late 1980s, he was forced into exile.

    His latest novel, Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth, continues his activism and shows his distaste for corrupt dictators. The satirical novel takes on religious leaders, politicians, media owners, and others as they scheme their way through his version of his country. He calls it "my gift to Nigeria."