Wole Soyinka
Akinwande Oluwole "Wole" Soyinka (b. July 13, 1934 in Nigeria) is a Yoruba writer and the first African winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986.
Soyinka is very active in Nigerian politics; during the Nigerian Civil War he was detained and put in solitary confinement. He was released two years later after international attention was shed on his imprisonment. His experiences in prison are recounted in his novel The Man Died.
Soyinka was also briefly detained in 2004 after heading (with others) and participating in an anti-government rally in the Nigerian capital of Lagos.
Plays
He is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador.
