Fun Facts About Wole Soyinka
- Wole Soyinka was once charged with holding up a radio station at gunpoint and swapping a regional premier's taped speech for one alleging electoral malpractice; protests by writers worldwide won his release.[1]
- In 1971 Soyinka played the lead role of Patrice Lumumba in a Paris stage production of Murderous Angels, a play about the Congo Crisis.[1][3][4]
- In November 1994 Soyinka fled Nigeria on a motorcycle across the border with Benin.[1]
- During the Nigerian Civil War, Soyinka was declared a traitor and imprisoned for 22 months, during which he wrote poems and notes criticizing the government.[1]
- Soyinka's mother came from the Ransome-Kuti family, a Nigerian dynasty described as Nigeria's answer to the Kennedys.[1]
- As a student, Soyinka co-founded the National Association of Seadogs, the first confraternity in Nigeria.[1]
- Wole Soyinka was alive at the same time as Ernest Rutherford — their lives overlapped for 3 years (1934–1937).[1][2][5][6]
- Wole Soyinka and Yuri Gagarin were both born in 1934.[1][2][7][8]
Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka is a Nigerian writer, playwright, and poet. He has written three novels, ten collections of short stories, seven poetry collections, twenty-five plays and five memoirs. He also wrote two translated works and many articles and short stories for many newspapers and periodicals. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature for his "wide cultural perspective and poetic overtones fashioning the drama of existence".[1]
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Questions About Wole Soyinka
When was Wole Soyinka born?
Wole Soyinka was born on July 13, 1934, and is alive today.
How old is Wole Soyinka?
Wole Soyinka was born on July 13, 1934, and turned 92 on July 13, 2026.
What is Wole Soyinka known for?
Wole Soyinka is known for: First African Nobel laureate in Literature. Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka is a Nigerian writer, playwright, and poet. He has written three novels, ten collections of short stories, seven poetry collections, twenty-five plays and five memoirs. He also wrote two translated works and many articles and short stories for many newspapers and periodicals. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature for his "wide cultural perspective and poetic overtones fashioning the drama of existence".
Who was alive at the same time as Wole Soyinka?
Wole Soyinka's closest contemporary was Noam Chomsky. Their lives overlapped for 92 years.
Sources
- Wole Soyinka — Wikipedia. Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0
- Wole Soyinka (Q41488) — Wikidata
- Patrice Lumumba — Wikipedia
- Patrice Lumumba (Q161672) — Wikidata
- Ernest Rutherford — Wikipedia
- Ernest Rutherford (Q9123) — Wikidata
- Yuri Gagarin — Wikipedia
- Yuri Gagarin (Q7327) — Wikidata
- Portrait: Wole Soyinka in 2018.jpg — Wikimedia Commons. Frankie Fouganthin, CC BY-SA 4.0