Major events in the life of Professor Wole Soyinka

Nobel Laureate Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde, popularly known as Wole Soyinka, has contributed immensely to literature in Nigeria and across the world.

Wole Soyinka is a Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet and political activists among others. He was born on July 13, 1934 in Abeokuta, Nigeria.

The 87-year-old laureate spent his life embarking on a remarkable journey in literature and politics.

As Wole Soyinka turns a year older, MyNigeria states below some facts about the playwright.

1. In 1940, after attending St. Peter's Primary School in Abeokuta, Soyinka went to Abeokuta Grammar School, where he won several prizes for literary composition.

2. After becoming chief of the Cathedral of Drama at the University of Ibadan, Soyinka became more politically active. Following the military coup of January 1966, he secretly and unofficially met with the military governor Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu in the Southeastern town of Enugu (August 1967), to try to avert civil war. As a result, he had to go into hiding.

3. He was imprisoned for 22 months as civil war ensued between the Federal government of Nigeria and the Biafrans. Though refused materials such as books, pens, and paper, he still wrote a significant body of poems and notes criticising the Nigerian government while in prison.

4. Soyinka was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986, becoming the first African laureate. He was described as one "who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence".

5. Soyinka has been married three times and divorced twice. He has children from his three marriages.

He has received several awards and honours for his great work.