Url.https'>

Wole Soyinka Biography, Age, Early Life, Family, Education, Career, Net Worth And More

Wole Soyinka Biography
Wole Soyinka is a Nigerian playwright, poet and essayist. He is the first Nigerian to be awarded a  Nobel Prize in Literature.
We'd be seeing Wole Soyinka's biography, date of birth, age, early life, family, parents, siblings, wife, children, education, books and literary works, net worth, social media handles and everything else you'd love to know about him.
Don't forget to drop us a comment and share to your friends at the end of the article.

Wole Soyinka Profile

Before we continue, here's a quick rundown on Wole Soyinka's profile and a few things you'd love to know about him.
Full Names: Akínwándé Olúwolé Babátúndé Sóyíinká
Date of birth: 13th July, 1934
Age: 85 years
Nationality: Nigerian
Education: Abeokuta Grammar School, University of Leeds
Occupation: Author, poet, playwright
Genre: Drama, novel, poetry
Period: 1957–present
Subject: Comparative literature
Net Worth: $1 million

Wole Soyinka Biography, Date Of Birth, Early Life, Family, Education, Literary Career

Born on the 13th of July, 1934, Wole Soyinka is a Nigerian playwright, poet and essayist. He is the first Nigerian to be awarded a  Nobel Prize in Literature.
He was born into a Yoruba family in Abeokuta, and attended the Government College in Ibadan, then the University of Leeds, England.
After Wole's education, he worked with the Royal Court Theatre in London, and wrote a good number of poems and plays. 

He also played a very important role in Nigeria gaining its independence from the British and in 1965, seized the Western Nigeria Broadcasting Service studio and broadcast a demand for the cancellation of the Western Nigeria Regional Elections.
During the Nigerian Civil War, Soyinka was arrested by Gen. Yakubu Gowon and but in a solitary confinement for two years.
He has been a strong political critic, and is always outspoken especially in matters relating to Nigerian and the whole Africa politics.
Soyinka was a Professor of Comparative Literature at the Obafemi Awolowo University, (formerly University of Ife). He was made a professor emeritus in Nigeria after the civilian rule, and first taught at the Cornell University as  Goldwin Smith professor for African Studies and Theatre Arts from 1988 to 1991 and then at Emory University, where in 1996 he was appointed Robert W. Woodruff Professor of the Arts.

Wole Soyinka Literary Works

Some of his literary works include:

- Plays

• My Father's Burden
• Kongi's Harvest
• The Trials of Brother Jero
• The Swamp Dwellers
• Camwood on the Leaves
• Keffi's Birthday Treat
• The Road
• Madmen and Specialists
• The Invention
• Before the Blackout
• A Quality of Violence 
• A Dance of the Forests
• The Lion and the Jewel
• The Strong Breed
• From Zia with Love
• The Bacchae of Euripides
• The Beatification of Area Boy
• Jero's Metamorphosis
• King Baabu
• Death and the King's Horseman
• Etiki Revu Wetin
• Opera Wonyosi
• Childe Internationale
• Requiem for a Futurologist
• King Baabu
• A Play of Giants
• The Detainee (radio play)
• Document of Identity (radio play)
• A Scourge of Hyacinths (radio play)

- Novels

Season of Anomy
The Interpreters

- Short stories

• A Tale of Two
• Madame Etienne's Establishment
• Egbe's Sworn Enemy

- Memoirs

• Ibadan: The Penkelemes Years: a memoir 19466–5
• The Man Died: Prison Notes 
• Isara: A Voyage around Essay
• Aké: The Years of Childhood
• You Must Set Forth at Dawn

- Poetry collections

• A Big Airplane Crashed Into The Earth (original title Poems from Prison)
• Telephone Conversation
• Ogun Abibiman
• Idanre and other poems
• A Shuttle in the Crypt
• Samarkand and Other Markets I Have Known 
• Mandela's Earth and other poems
• Early Poems

- Essays

• Neo-Tarzanism: The Poetics of Pseudo-Transition
• Towards a True Theater
• Myth, Literature, and the African World
• Culture in Transition
• The Blackman and the Veil
• A Voice That Would Not Be Silenced
• The Burden of Memory – The Muse of Forgiveness
• Art, Dialogue, and Outrage: Essays on Literature and Culture
• The Credo of Being and Nothingness
• From Drama and the African World View
• Of Africa
• A Climate of Fear (the BBC Reith Lectures 2004, audio and transcripts)
• Beyond Aesthetics: Use, Abuse, and Dissonance in African Art Traditions
• New Imperialism

- Movies

• Kongi's Harvest
• Blues for a Prodigal
• Culture in Transition

Wole Soyinka Quotes

Some of our favourite quotes from Wole Soyinka include:
The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.
Books and all forms of writing are terror to those who wish to suppress the truth.
And I believe that the best learning process of any kind of craft is just to look at the work of others.
Power is domination, control, and therefore a very selective form of truth which is a lie.
The hand that dips into the bottom of the pot will eat the biggest snail.
The man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny.

Wole Soyinka Net Worth

Wole Soyinka is one of the biggest Nigerian born writers. He is estimated to be net worth above $1 million.

Social Media Handles

You can connect with Wole Soyinka on his website via http://wolesoyinkalecture.org. He doesn't have any social media handles for the meantime.

Thanks a lot for reading along. What do you think? Kindly drop us a comment and don't forget to share with your friends.
Before you leave, also check out our next article on Nigerian biggest female writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's biography. Her current net worth will surely leave you shocked!
Previous
Next Post »