Ngugi wa Thiong’o

Ngugi wa Thiong’o of Kenya, whom UH Mānoa American Studies professor David Stannard described as “a freedom fighter whose chosen weapon is words” is a leading novelist whose popular Weep Not, Child (1964) was the first major novel in English by an East African. As a teenager, Ngugi and his family were imprisoned, along with more than a million of Kenya’s Kikuyu people during the uprising against British colonial rule. Somehow, he was able to acquire a high school and later, a college and postgraduate education. During his time as a professor at the University of Nairobi, he wrote a scathing account of the post-colonial regime entitled Petals of Blood. He was arrested, and spent nearly a year in solitary confinement. On his release, he left his home, and Africa.

In the years that followed, he has lectured throughout Europe and the United States. Despite all he has endured, Ngugi remains an optimist in the struggle for justice.