Born James Thiong’o Ngugi to Thiong’o wa Nduucu and Wanjika wa Ngugi, Ngugi is the fifth child of the third of Thiong’o’s four wives. Ngugi was born on January 5, 1938, he is the East Africa’s leading novelist, whose popular Weep Not, Child (1964) was the first major novel in English by an East African. As he became sensitized to the effects of colonialism in Africa, he adopted his traditional name.
By Our Senior Writers
“He lived a full life, fought a good fight,” Wanjiku Wa Ngugi wrote while announcing the death of her famous father Prof. Ngugi Wa Thiong’o -one of Africa’s most celebrated modern-day literature gurus .
At the time of his death, Ngugi was reportedly receiving kidney dialysis treatments, but his immediate cause of death is still unknown.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o is one of Africa’s most important authors and literary theorists. He contributed to the creation of post-colonial literature in East Africa in the 1950s and 60s and has written extensively on the role of culture in both the subjugation and liberation of a country and a people.
One of his most famous works, “Decolonising the Mind”, was published in 1986 while living abroad. The book argues that it is “impossible to liberate oneself while using the language of oppressors.”
Besides holding the position of acclaimed writer, Ngugi was a prisoner of conscience. In 1977, he was jailed in Kenya for staging a play deemed critical of contemporary society.
He once described the country’s new elite class as “the death of hopes, the death of dreams and the death of beauty”.
Ngugi received Bachelor degrees from Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, in 1963 and from Leeds University, Yorkshire, Eng., in 1964. After doing graduate work at Leeds, he served as a lecturer in English at University College, Nairobi, Kenya, and as a visiting professor of English at Northwestern University.
As a spokesman for his people and a chronicler of Kenya’s modern history, Ngugi is widely regarded as one of the most significant writers of East Africa.
Due to his vocal opposition of the injustices perpetrated by the postcolonial Kenyan government, Ngugi was arrested and imprisoned without charge in the Kamoto Maximum Security Prison from December 1977 to December 1978. While imprisoned, Ngugi wrote his memoirs, Detained: A Writer’s Prison Diary (1981), and vowed to write his creative works only in the Kikuyu language.
Your language or mine?
In 1962, wa Thiong’o attended the African Writers Conference alongside Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, and John Pepper Clark who came to Kampala to discuss African literature in the context of decolonisation. Despite the all-star lineup, the Nigerian critic Obi Wali complained that the conference did not include any authors who wrote in African languages. The debate that followed would have a profound effect on wa Thiong’o.
At the time, wa Thiong’o worked in English under the name James wa Thiong’o. The conference convinced him to publish under his own name and to write in his native language, Gikuyu.
The role of language became a driving question for wa Thiong’o. He saw language and culture as vital components of colonialism. Giving priority and prestige to English and texts written by English authors served the aims of the system. It promoted England as the font of all knowledge and English as the language of high culture and accomplishment. English culture was something to aspire to and emulate, and the English language was the medium to work in if you wanted to be taken seriously.
In 1968, as Professor of English Literature at the University of Nairobi, wa Thiong’o campaigned for the department to be abolished. Wa Thiong’o argued that the syllabus completely ignored African authors (even those who wrote in English), did not include references to Africa’s oral traditions of storytelling, and that the syllabus gave the impression that English authors spoke to universal truths rather than being bound by their own cultural contexts.
He and his fellow campaigners wrote a polemic declaration setting out their stall “If there is need for a ‘study of the historic continuity of a single culture’, why can’t this be African? Why can’t African literature be at the centre so that we can view other cultures in relationship to it?”
For wa Thiong’o, this debate was about self-respect and rejecting the practices of the colonial period. The question of what to study became a way of overturning a system of thought laid down by the British in Kenya. The course was dropped by the university in favour of one that focused on African literature.
His works are often political motivated drawing on his own experiences of the post-colonial period, its promises and its failures. His first play The Black Hermit was a celebration of Ugandan independence and led one newspaper to declare: “Ngũgĩ Speaks for the Continent”. His novel Petals of Blood directly led to his imprisonment in Kenya after it offended the future president of Kenya Daniel arap Moi.
In addition to his major works including A Grain of Wheat, Petals of Blood and The Perfect Nine, wa Thiong’o has written several plays, children’s stories and was a regular contributor to newspapers across Africa.
In I Will Marry When I Want wa Thiong’o sets a compelling narrative that follows the journey of individuals grappling with societal pressures in their pursuit of love and marriage, ultimately emphasizing the importance of choice and autonomy in relationships.
The pursuit of marriage is depicted as a spectrum of experiences and challenges. The play explores various elements that influence the characters’ decisions, including family dynamics, societal influences, and personal convictions. Through their journey, Gikonyo and Wangeci highlight the importance of individual agency in making life decisions, especially when it comes to love and relationships.
Ngugi is recipient of many honours including the 2001 Nonino International Prize for Literature and seven honorary doctorates.
