Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde "Wole" Soyinka is a Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist in the English language. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature for his "wide cultural perspective and... poetic overtones fashioning the drama of existence", the first sub-Saharan African to win the Prize in literature.
Idi Amin Dada Oumee was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern world history.
A Dance of the Forests is one of the most recognized of Wole Soyinka's plays. It was "presented at the Nigerian Independence celebrations in 1960, it ... denigrated the glorious African past and warned Nigerians and all Africans that their energies henceforth should be spent trying to avoid repeating the mistakes that have already been made."
Yoruba literature is the spoken and written literature of the Yoruba people, one of the largest ethno-linguistic groups in Nigeria and the rest of Africa. The Yoruba language is spoken in Nigeria, Benin, and Togo, as well as in dispersed Yoruba communities throughout the world.
Rise and Fall of Idi Amin, also known as Amin: The Rise and Fall, is a 1981 biographical film directed by Sharad Patel and starring Joseph Olita as Idi Amin. Olita also played Amin in the 1991 film Mississippi Masala.
Kongi's Harvest is a 1970s Nigerian drama film directed by Ossie Davis. The film was adapted from a screenplay by Wole Soyinka adapted from his 1965 play of the same name. Soyinka, a Nigerian playwright, poet, and the first African to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986, also starred in the leading role as the dictator of an African nation.
Kongi's Harvest is a 1965 play written by Wole Soyinka. It premiered in Dakar, Senegal, at the first Negro Arts Festival in April 1966. It was later adapted as a film of the same name, directed by the American Ossie Davis.
Chief Wale Ogunyemi, OFR was a Nigerian veteran seasoned dramatist, film actor, prolific playwright, and Yoruba language scholar.
Olaokun Soyinka is a Nigerian medical doctor and a former Ogun State commissioner for Health.
Tunji Oyelana is a multi-award-winning Nigerian musician, actor, folk singer, composer and once a lecturer at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Tunji Oyelana is of the Yoruba ethnic group and is a native of Nigeria. Most of Tunji Oyelana's songs are in Yoruba. In the early 1980s, he teamed up with Nigeria's first and only winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Wole Soyinka, to record a musical album that satirized the corruption of the Nigerian political elite. He was the musician for Stéphane Breton's 1994 film Un dieu au bord de la route. Oyelana is credited with having sold the most albums by a Nigerian High Life musicians. In 2012 he released A Nigerian Retrospective 1966-79, an album from Soundway Records. Apart from Fela Kuti and King Sunny Ade, Oyelana is regarded as one of the most played Yoruba musicians. He and Soyinka composed I Love My Country and, in 1996, were both charged with treason and forced into exile by Sani Abacha while touring internationally with Soyinka's play The Beatification of Area Boy. Oyelana, the leader of The Benders currently lives in the United Kingdom.
The Interpreters is a novel by Wole Soyinka, first published in London by André Deutsch in 1965 and later republished as part of the influential Heinemann African Writers Series. It is the first and one of the only three novels written by Soyinka; he is principally known as a playwright. The novel was written in English and later translated into a number of languages.
Season of Anomy is the second novel by Nobel winning Nigerian playwright and critic Wole Soyinka. Published in 1973, it is one of only three novels published during Soyinka's highly productive literary career. Though highly studied as part of Soyinka's importance to the African literary canon, criticism of the novel has been mixed, with some critics describing the novel as a "failure".
Ripples Nigeria is a Nigerian online newspaper based in Lagos. It was launched in 2015. It is an independent, pro-investigation multi-media online news platform focused primarily on politics, policy and economy.
Grace Eniola Soyinka was a Nigerian shopkeeper, activist, and member of the aristocratic Ransome-Kuti family.
Adedapo Abayomi Adelugba was a Nigerian academic, theatre critic and playwright who spent a considerable part of his academic career at University of Ibadan where he was a director of the university's theatre troupe. Adelugba was also the director of Nigeria's drama entry to the Second World Festival of Arts and Culture.
The Bacchae of Euripides: A Communion Rite is an adaptation by Wole Soyinka of the ancient Greek tragedy The Bacchae by Euripides.
Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth is a 2021 novel written by Nigerian playwright and novelist Wole Soyinka. It was released on 28 September 2021 by Bookcraft Africa.
The 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka "who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence." He is the first African recipient of the prize.
King Baabu is a play by Wole Soyinka amongst his others plays including The Lion and the Jewel,A Dance of the Forests, and The Strong Breed. Wole Soyinka was the first African to win the Nobel Prize award in 1986. King Baabu is a satirical play that mirrors the rule of General Abacha in Nigeria through absurdity and humor. It follows the transformation of General Basha Bash into King Baabu, portraying his reign with a cast of characters speaking in a childish language. Through comedy and storytelling, the play critiques power, corruption, and the cult of personality, leaving a lasting impression as a poignant commentary on political absurdity.
The Beatification of the Area Boy, a play by Wole Soyinka, was first published in Great Britain in 1995 and later in Nigeria in 1999. The play explores the absurdities present in Nigerian society, particularly under military rule, and by extension, in any African nation where regressive systems remain unchallenged due to a lack of checks and balances.
