Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Celebrated Kenyan Author, Dies at 87
Renowned Kenyan author, literary icon and intellectual NgÅ©gÄ© wa Thiong’o passed away on Wednesday at the age of 87 in the United States. Born on January 5, 1938, in Kamiriithu near Limuru, Kiambu County, NgÅ©gÄ© was widely recognised as a distinguished writer, scholar, and political thinker. His acclaimed body of work includes seminal novels such as Weep Not, Child (1964), The River Between (1965), A Grain of Wheat (1967), Petals of Blood (1977), and Wizard of the Crow (2006), which powerfully capture Kenya’s colonial and post-independence struggles.Â
In 1977, Ngũgĩ’s outspoken political stance led to his arrest and detention without trial following the staging of his play Ngaahika Ndeenda (I Will Marry When I Want), co-written with Ngũgĩ wa Mirii. While imprisoned, he wrote Devil on the Cross in Gikuyu, using toilet paper as his medium, an act that marked a profound moment in his literary and ideological journey.