Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Celebrated Kenyan Author, Dies at 87
Renowned Kenyan author, literary icon and intellectual Ngũgĩ 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, Ngũgĩ 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.
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.