Ngugi wa Thiong'o (1938– )

Kenyan writer. His work includes essays, plays, short stories, and novels. Imprisoned after the performance of the play Ngaahika Ndeenda/I Will Marry When I Want (1977), he lived in exile from 1982. His novels, written in English and Kikuyu, include Weep Not, Child (1964), The River Between (1965), Petals of Blood (1977), Caitaani Mutharaba-ini/Devil on the Cross (1982), and Matigari, and Wizard of the Crow (2006). They deal with colonial and post-independence oppression.

Ngugi's education was a mix of Christian and traditional teaching. He changed his name when he rejected Christianity because of its colonial associations. His family was involved in the Mau Mau campaign against the colonists. After graduating from Makerere University College in Kampala, Uganda, he eventually became a professor at Nairobi University. In 1982 he moved to London.