Writer Ngugi Wa Thiong’o has died – Diepresse.com

He was traded as one of the hottest candidates on the Nobel Prize for Literature for many years. Now the author Ngugi Wa Thiong’o from Kenya, one of the best -known voices of East Africa, has died at the age of 87, as Kenya President William Ruto announced, according to the Reuters news agency. This ends a lifestyle that came equally an almost incredible emancipation and promotion story.

Born under British colonial rule

Ngugi Wa Thiong’o was born on January 5, 1938 in a Kral in rural Central Kenia, in a society characterized by tribal traditions, in which even the simplest education was not a matter of course. And in a society under British colonial rule. « I don’t know what place I took among my father’s 24 children and his four women, but I was the fifth child in my mother’s house. » Already this sentence on the first pages of his book « Dreams of War », the start of his autobiographical trilogy, makes the cultural framework clear under which his childhood took place. An ancient, patriarchal -shaped tribal society was at the beginning of its transfer.

The MAU-MAU-exemption movement was increasingly received, the tensions led to the open civil war. After prison and persecution in his home country, Ngugi left with his family Kenya, and since 1992 he has taught English and comparative literary studies at various US universities.

Debütroman 1964

His incredible educational path led him from the missionary school to the high school at universities in Uganda and Great Britain. In 1964 he celebrated his international breakthrough with his English -language debut novel « Weep not, Child ». In the 1970s he abandoned his Christian name James and has been writing Gikuyu in his mother tongue since then. At the time, he developed the call to be one of the most influential voices of the African continent. His works were translated into more than 30 languages, in German in addition to his memories, for example his novels « burned flowers », « Matigari » and « Lord of the Krows ».

Four of his children also became a writer – but they write in English. « The fact that you do not write in an African language has already taken care of some discussion at home, but you have to understand: it is not so difficult to write in an African language, but almost impossible for a young writer to be published in this language. There is simply hardly any publisher, » said NGugi Wa Thiong’o in the APA conversation.

Permanent favorite on the Nobel Literature Prize

From 2010 at the latest, he was considered a constant top favorite to the Nobel Prize for Literature. « Journalists already campaigned in front of my house the day before the announcement, they absolutely wanted the first interview with the Nobel Prize winner. He then went to Mario Vargas Losa. And they looked so terribly disappointed! My wife made coffee and had to comfort them, » the author recalled in 2017 to the APA. Now Ngugi Wa Thiong’o will no longer participate in this greatest literary honor. « The all-round giant of the Kenyan literature has put his pen aside for all times, » wrote President Ruto on his X-account. (APA)