Here Are Some Books And Plays Written By Professor Wole Soyinka

Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka Hon. FRSL (Yoruba: Akínwándé Oluwole Babatunde Ṣóyíinká; born 13 July 1934), known as Wole Soyinka is a Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist in the English language. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, for “in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashioning the drama of existence”, the first sub-Saharan African to be honoured in that category.

Soyinka was born on 13 July 1934 at Abeokuta, near Ibadan in western Nigeria. After preparatory university studies in 1954 at Government College in Ibadan, he continued at the University of Leeds, where, later, in 1973, he took his doctorate. During the six years spent in England, he was a dramaturgist at the Royal Court Theatre in London 1958-1959. In 1960, he was awarded a Rockefeller bursary and returned to Nigeria to study African drama. At the same time, he taught drama and literature at various universities in Ibadan, Lagos, and Ife, where, since 1975, he has been professor of comparative literature. In 1960, he founded the theatre group, “The 1960 Masks” and in 1964, the “Orisun Theatre Company”, in which he has produced his own plays and taken part as actor. He has periodically been visiting professor at the universities of Cambridge, Sheffield, and Yale.

During the civil war in Nigeria, Soyinka appealed in an article for cease-fire. For this he was arrested in 1967, accused of conspiring with the Biafra rebels, and was held as a political prisoner for 22 months until 1969. Soyinka has published about 20 works: drama, novels and poetry. He writes in English and his literary language is marked by great scope and richness of words.

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Below are the listed books and plays written by Wole Soyinka:

1. “A Dance of the Forests” (play)

2. “Death and the King’s Horseman” (play)

3. “The Man Died: Prison Notes” (non-fiction)

4. “Ake: The Years of Childhood” (autobiography)

5. “Kongi’s Harvest” (play)

6. “The Man and the Bicycle” (children’s book)

7. “Aké: The Birth of a Republic” (memoir)

8. “You Must Set Forth at Dawn” (memoir)

9. “Madmen and Specialists” (play)

10. “The Man in the Woman’s Shoes” (play)

11. “Climate of Fear: The Quest for Dignity in a Dehumanized World” (essays)

12. “Ibadan: The Penkelemes Years” (memoir)

13. “The Bacchae of Euripides: A Communion Rite” (play adaptation)

14. “A Shuttle in the Crypt” (play)

15. “The Man Died: Prison Notes” (non-fiction)

16. “From Zia, with Love” (essays)

17. “The Open Sore of a Continent: A Personal Narrative of the Nigerian Crisis” (essays)

18. “Isara: A Voyage Around “Essay”” (novel)

19. “Camwood on the Leaves” (play)

20. “Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth” (novel)

These works showcase the diversity of Wole Soyinka’s contributions to literature and his exploration of various themes.