Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
Author of A Grain of Wheat
About the Author
Novelist, playwright, and essayist, Ngugi wa Thiong'o was born in Kenya on January 5, 1938. He received a B.A. in English from Makerere University College in Kampala, Uganda in 1963. He is Kenya's best-known writer and one of East Africa's most outspoken social critics. His first novel, Weep Not, show more Child (1964), was a penetrating account of the Mau Mau uprising (a tribal revolt that occurred in colonial Kenya) and was the first English-language novel by an East African. Two subsequent works, The River Between (1965) and A Grain of Wheat (1967), are sensitive novels about the Kikuyu people caught between the old and the new Africa. One of his major concerns has been the lack of reading materials in native African languages. In an attempt to bring literature to African peasants and workers, he wrote and produced the play I Will Marry When I Want (1977) in his native Kikuyu language. The play, which shows the exploitation of Kikuyu workers and peasants, attracted a large audience of poor Kenyans. It also led to Ngugi's arrest and imprisonment. After his release from prison, he went into exile and is currently living in the United States. His other works include Detained (1981); Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature (1986); and Matigari (1987). He received the 2001 Nonino International Prize for Literature. In 2006, Random House published his first new novel in nearly two decades, Wizard of the Crow. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Disambiguation Notice:
Ngũgĩ's name is not in the western form of last name, first name, because neither Ngũgĩ nor wa Thiong'o is his "last name" in the sense that is used in the west. He returned to the traditional Gikuyi form of his name, which roughly means Ngũgĩ son of Thiong'o, and is referred to on his own web site as Ngũgĩ.
Image credit: Photo by user 601TV / Flickr
Series
Works by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
Writers in Politics: A Re-engagement with Issues of Literature and Society (Studies in African Literature) (1981) 29 copies
Penpoints, Gunpoints, and Dreams: Towards a Critical Theory of the Arts and the State in Africa (Clarendon Lectures in… (1998) 13 copies
Petals of Blood 3 copies
Minutes of glory 2 copies
Usilie Mpenzi Wangu 1 copy
නාඩන් දරුව 1 copy
කුරුසයේ ලූ යක්ෂයා 1 copy
Nisun jyvä 1 copy
Mtawa mweusi 1 copy
Chmury i łzy 1 copy
Njia Panda 1 copy
Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʾo of Kenya 1 copy
Somnis en temps de guerra 1 copy
Nairobi Noir (Akashic Noir) 1 copy
Nace un tejedor de sueños (Narración en Castellano): El despertar de un escritor (Ciclogénesis) (2020) 1 copy
Afrika sichtbar machen: Essays über Dekolonisierung und Globalisierung (German Edition) (2021) 1 copy
Mutiiri 1 copy
Associated Works
The Art of the Story: An International Anthology of Contemporary Short Stories (1999) — Contributor — 345 copies
Other Voices, Other Vistas: Short Stories from Africa, China, India, Japan, and Latin America (1992) — Contributor — 187 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
- Legal name
- Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
- Other names
- Ngugi, James Thiong'o (birth name)
wa Thiongo, Ngugi - Birthdate
- 1938-01-05
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- Kenya
- Country (for map)
- Kenya
- Birthplace
- Kamiriithu, Kenya
- Places of residence
- Kamiriithu, Kenya
Nairobi, Kenya
Irvine, California, USA
New York, New York, USA
New Haven, Connecticut, USA
Amherst, Massachusetts, USA - Education
- Makerere University
University of Leeds - Occupations
- university professor
scholar of African and English literature
writer - Relationships
- Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ (son)
Wanjikũ wa Ngũgĩ (daughter) - Organizations
- University of California, Irvine
Amherst College
Yale University
New York University - Awards and honors
- Lotus Prize for Literature (1973)
American Academy of Arts and Letters (Foreign Honorary ∙ Literature ∙ 2003)
PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature (2022) - Disambiguation notice
- Ngũgĩ's name is not in the western form of last name, first name, because neither Ngũgĩ nor wa Thiong'o is his "last name" in the sense that is used in the west. He returned to the traditional Gikuyi form of his name, which roughly means Ngũgĩ son of Thiong'o, and is referred to on his own web site as Ngũgĩ.
Members
Discussions
AFRICAN NOVEL CHALLENGE OCTOBER 2023 : NGUGI WA THIONG'O & SCHOLASTIQUE MUKASONGA in 75 Books Challenge for 2023 (November 2023)
Petals of Blood by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o in Author Theme Reads (January 2012)
Matigari by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o in Author Theme Reads (December 2011)
Introducing Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o in Author Theme Reads (December 2011)
Weep Not, Child by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o in Author Theme Reads (December 2011)
The River Between by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o in Author Theme Reads (December 2011)
Devil on the Cross by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o in Author Theme Reads (November 2011)
Reviews
Lists
A Novel Cure (1)
1970s (1)
Black Authors (1)
"We" narration (1)
1960s (1)
Revolutions (1)
Big Jubilee List (1)
Reading Globally (2)
Africa (2)
Writers at Risk (1)
Read These Too (1)
1980s (1)
Translingualism (1)
Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 71
- Also by
- 13
- Members
- 6,265
- Popularity
- #3,914
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 125
- ISBNs
- 288
- Languages
- 21
- Favorited
- 19