Content Warning: This section of the study guide references ritual suicide.

Born on July 13, 1934, Wole Soyinka is a Nigerian writer and the winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is the author of dozens of works, including plays, novels, short stories, and essays. Soyinka was born in colonial Nigeria and grew up exposed to English and Yoruba traditions and ways of life. He attended university in Nigeria and later moved to Leeds to complete his bachelor’s and obtain a master’s degree. While in England, Soyinka began writing plays that combined Western structures and conventions with Yoruba tradition and philosophy. Several of his works were performed in England, and upon returning to Nigeria, he founded a theatre company and continued to write.

Throughout his life, Soyinka has been outspoken against colonialism and oppressive African regimes. During the Nigerian Civil War in 1967, he wrote an article calling for a cease-fire and was arrested and held as a political prisoner for nearly two years. He has been exiled from his native Nigeria multiple times and remains politically active. Best known as a playwright, Soyinka’s work generally falls into two categories: satirical comedies and more serious, philosophical pieces, like Death and the King’s Horseman.