Ngugi wa Thiongo (1938- ). Kenya.

One of Africa's most accomplished and prominent novelists was born in 1938 in an area known at the time as the "White Highlands," part of the British-ruled Kenya Colony. This context proves important in his early novels, which deal with the dilemmas of growing up in two worlds: as a Kikuyu/African and a Westerner/Christian. He was educated at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, and the University of Leeds. His early works, Weep Not Child, The River Between, and A Grain of Wheat, depict the conflict of cultures and the role of Christianity, English education, and the increasingly oppressive treatment of the Kikuyu and other Africans, whose land had been taken by the colonists.

Ngugi taught at Makerere University, University of Nairobi, and Northwestern University. While at the University of Nairobi, he chose to write in his native Kikuyu to help revitalize indigenous languages. His subsequent writing, e.g. Petals of Blood, is critical of the corrupt politicians and other personalities of post-independence Kenya. Such politically charged writing led to his 1977 arrest and detention. After his release he went into exile, and was never reinstated as professor at the University of Nairobi. Ngugi remains in self-imposed exile, and taught at Yale University for several years before joining the faculty of NYU in 1993. (RN)

Weep Not Child. 1964. London: Heinemann.
The River Between. 1965. London: Heinemann.
A Grain of Wheat. 1967. London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1975.
The Black Hermit. 1968. Nairobi, Kenya: Heinemann Educational.
Homecoming: Essays on African and Caribbean Literature, Culture and Politics. 1972. London: Heinemann.
Petals of Blood. 1977. London: Heinemann.
The Trial of Dedan Kimathi. 1977. London: Heinemann.
Caitaani mutharaba-imi. 1980. Nairobi, Kenya: Heinemann. Translated as Devil on the Cross. London: Heinemann, 1982.
Ngaahika ndeenda: Ithaako ria ngerekano. 1980. Nairobi, Kenya: Heinemann. Translated as I Will Marry When I Want. London: Heinemann, 1982.
Detained: A Writer's Prison Diary. 1981. Nairobi, Kenya: Heinemann.
Barrel of a Pen: Resistance to Repression in Neo-colonial Kenya. 1983. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
Decolonizing the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature. 1986. London: Currey.
Matigari ma njiruungi. 1986. Nairobi, Kenya: Heinemann. Translated as Matigari. Oxford, England: Heinemann, 1989.
Moving the Centre: The Struggle for Cultural Freedom. 1993. London: Currey.

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