Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Giant of African Literature and Advocate for Indigenous Languages, Dies at 87

Victor Nwoko
2 days ago
3 min read

Renowned Kenyan author and literary icon Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o has died at the age of 87, closing a monumental chapter in African literature. A prolific writer, academic, and activist, Ngũgĩ’s work spanned nearly six decades, chronicling Kenya’s journey from colonial subjugation to post-independence struggles and exposing the ongoing complexities of power, culture, and identity in Africa.

Born James Thiong’o Ngũgĩ in 1938 during British colonial rule, he grew up in Limuru, central Kenya, in a family of low-income agricultural workers. His parents made great sacrifices to send him to Alliance High School, a prestigious boarding school run by British missionaries. During his school years, Ngũgĩ witnessed firsthand the violence of the British crackdown on the Mau Mau uprising, a resistance movement seeking Kenyan independence. His village was razed, his family members detained, and his deaf brother Gitogo was fatally shot for failing to follow a British soldier’s command he could not hear.

In 1959, Ngũgĩ left for Uganda to study at Makerere University, one of Africa’s premier institutions. It was there that he shared the manuscript of his first novel with Nigerian literary pioneer Chinua Achebe, who helped secure its publication. That novel, Weep Not, Child (1964), became the first major English-language novel by an East African writer and was met with widespread acclaim. It was followed by The River Between and A Grain of Wheat, further solidifying Ngũgĩ’s place as a rising literary force.

By 1972, he had been hailed as one of Africa’s most outstanding writers. But 1977 marked a turning point. That year, Ngũgĩ renounced his English name and adopted Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, a symbol of resistance against colonial cultural influence. He also committed to writing exclusively in his native Kikuyu language. His final English-language novel, Petals of Blood, was a searing critique of post-independence Kenyan leaders whom he saw as corrupt elites betraying the people’s struggle.

Wa Thiong'o's second wife Njeeri worked with him at the University of California

That same year, he co-authored the politically charged Kikuyu play Ngaahika Ndeenda (I Will Marry When I Want), which highlighted class inequality in independent Kenya. The government, led by President Jomo Kenyatta, responded by shutting down the production and detaining Ngũgĩ for a year without trial in a maximum-security prison. During his imprisonment, he wrote his first Kikuyu novel, Devil on the Cross, using toilet paper due to a lack of writing materials.

Ngũgĩ was released after Daniel arap Moi assumed the presidency, but by 1982, while promoting a book in London, he learned of a plot to assassinate him if he returned to Kenya. He began a self-imposed exile that lasted 22 years, living in the UK and later the United States. He taught at top universities including Yale, New York University, and the University of California, Irvine.

Ngũgĩ's son Mukoma (right) is also an author

When he finally returned to Kenya in 2004, he was welcomed as a national hero. However, that visit ended in trauma when he and his wife were attacked in their Nairobi apartment. He later described the incident as politically motivated.

A relentless advocate for African languages, Ngũgĩ fiercely opposed the dominance of European languages in African literature. His influential essay collection Decolonising the Mind became a foundational text in postcolonial studies. In it, he criticized the notion that African writers must use colonial languages to be taken seriously—at one point publicly rebuking Achebe, straining their once-close friendship.

Kenyans were frequently interrogated under suspicion of being Mau Mau rebels

Ngũgĩ’s legacy is both literary and ideological. He pushed boundaries in fiction, drama, and scholarship, and was long considered a frontrunner for the Nobel Prize in Literature, though he never received it. His writing inspired generations of African writers, including Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who described him as one of the continent’s guiding lights.

He was married twice and fathered nine children, four of whom are published authors. His son, Mukoma wa Ngũgĩ, has alleged that Ngũgĩ abused his mother, writing in a public statement that he remembered visiting her at his grandmother’s home, where she sought refuge. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o did not respond publicly to the accusation.

In his later years, Ngũgĩ battled health issues, undergoing triple heart bypass surgery in 2019 and struggling with kidney failure. He had previously survived prostate cancer, diagnosed in 1995 with a prognosis of only three months to live.

Despite all obstacles—colonialism, imprisonment, exile, political repression, and illness—Ngũgĩ’s voice never faltered. His death marks the end of an era for African literature, leaving behind a body of work that challenged power and celebrated cultural pride through language.