Wole Soyinka

His first two marriages failed and in 1989, he got married, for a third time, to Doherty Folake, a Nigerian.

Wole Soyinka was born in the city of Abeokuta, Nigeria, which was then a part of the British Empire.

He was privileged to have access to radio and electricity at home as his father, Samuel Ayodele Soyinka’s held prominent position as an Anglican minister and headmaster.

He attended St. Peters Primary School and later, enrolled at the Abeokuta Grammar School, where his talent in literary composition was recognised and he won many prizes.

In 1952, he graduated from Government College and then studied English literature, Greek and Western history at the University College in Ibadan. In his last year at University, he worked on a short play for the Nigerian Broadcasting Service.

In 1954, he moved to England and continued to pursue his education at the University of Leeds, under the guidance of Wilson Knight. Here, he became the editor of ‘The Eagle’, the University magazine.

In 1957, his poems ‘The Immigrant’ and ‘My next Door Neighbour’ were published in the ‘Black Orpheus’, a Nigerian magazine. The same year, his play ‘The Invention’ was produced at the Royal Court Theatre, London.

In 1958, he wrote the play, ‘The Swamp Dwellers’ and worked as a play reader at the Royal Court Theatre.

After he received a Rockefeller Research Fellowship to pursue research on African theatre, he returned to Nigeria and produced political satires viz. ‘The Trials of Brother Jero’ and ‘A Dance of The Forest’.

In 1960, he established the ‘Nineteen-Sixty Masks’, an amateur acting communal, to which he devoted considerable time over the years.

In 1962, he joined the department of English at the Obafemi Awolowo University, where he discussed current affairs and spoke out against government censorship. The same year, his essay, ‘Towards a True Theatre’ was published.

In 1965, he was arrested by the Nigerian government for allegedly holding a radio announcer at gunpoint to broadcast false election results. A wide campaign by the international community of writers resulted in his release after three months.

He became politically active and set up an unofficial meeting with military governor, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu in 1967 to stop the Civil War, after which he went into hiding.

He was accused of supporting the Biafrans, inhabitants of Biafra and as a result the Nigerian government imprisoned him for 22 months during the Civil War.

Despite being refused writing material during his imprisonment, it is believed that he managed to author numerous poems and notes, criticizing the Nigerian government. His plays were also screened in New York, while he was still in prison.

He was released along with other political activists by the end of 1969 after the end of the civil war that resulted in the defeat of the Biafrans.