Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o and Ngugi Wa Mirii

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (1938-2025) - formerly known as James Ngũgĩ was born in Kenya, in 1938 into a large peasant family.  Today writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o is one of East Africa’s leading novelists.  He was educated at Kamandura, Manguu and Kinyogori primary schools; Alliance High School, all in Kenya; Makerere University College (then a campus of London University), Kampala, Uganda; and the University of Leeds, Britain. He is recipient of seven Honorary Doctorates viz D Litt (Albright); PhD (Roskilde); D Litt (Leeds); D Litt &Ph D (Walter Sisulu University); PhD (Carlstate); D Litt (Dillard) and D Litt (Auckland University). He is also Honorary Member of American Academy of Letters. A many-sided intellectual, he is novelist, essayist, playwright, journalist, editor, academic and social activist.

His books have been translated into more than 30 languages, and his Weep Not Child was the first major novel in English by an East African. His writings on corruption in his native Kenya led to his ’77 imprisonment. Upon release, he was barred from college/university positions and went into exile. He’s taught at several institutions and is currently a professor at UC Irvine (CA). Wizard of the Crow is his first novel in nearly two decades.

Ngũgĩ is the father of novelist Mukoma Wa Ngugi.