1934 July 13: Akinwande Oluwole “Wole” Babatunde Soyinka was born. He is a Nigerian playwright and poet. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in literature, the first African to be honored in that category.
Wole Soyinka was born in Abeokuta. After study in Nigeria and the UK, he worked with the Royal Court Theatre in London. He went on to write plays that were produced in both countries, in theaters and on radio. He took an active role in Nigeria’s political history and its struggle for independence from Great Britain. In 1965, he seized the Western Nigeria Broadcasting service studio and broadcast a demand for the cancellation of the Western Nigeria Regional elections.
