Wole Soyinka

Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka, known as Wole Soyinka, is a Nigerian writer, playwright and poet, born on 13 July 1934. He was born into an Anglican Yoruba family in Aké, Abeokuta, was educated at Government College, Ibadan, and at University College Ibadan, and left Nigeria to study at the University of Leeds in England. He has written three novels, ten collections of short stories, seven poetry collections, twenty-five plays and five memoirs, and many of his novels and plays are set in Nigeria, reflecting the country's history, culture and political struggles. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature for his wide cultural perspective and poetic overtones fashioning the drama of existence.