Birth of Wole Soyinka

Wole Soyinka was born on 13 July 1934 in Abeokuta. A Nigerian playwright, poet and essayist, Soyinka was the first African to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1986. His plays, such as A Dance of the Forests, The Lion and the Jewel and Death and the King's Horseman, combine Yoruba mythology and tradition with Western dramatic forms and satire of political life. He was imprisoned for two years during the Nigerian Civil War for appealing for a ceasefire, and later spent years in exile as a critic of military regimes. He has taught at several universities and remains an outspoken critic of corruption and authoritarianism in Africa.

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