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Wa Thiong’o was widely regarded as East Africa's most influential writer.
Renowned Kenyan author and literary giant Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. Picture: Facebook/Wanjiku Wa Ngugi
Renowned Kenyan author and literary giant Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o has died at the age of 87.
His daughter, Wanjiku Wa Ngũgĩ, confirmed her father’s death in Atlanta, Georgia, on Wednesday.
‘Good fight’
“It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our dad, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, this Wednesday morning, 28th May 2025.
“He lived a full life, fought a good fight. As was his last wish, let’s celebrate his life and his work. Rîa ratha na rîa thŭa. Tŭrî aira!” Wa Ngũgĩ said.
Wa Ngũgĩ added that the family’s spokesperson Nducu Wa Ngugi will announce details of his “celebration of life soon”.
“I am me because of him in so many ways, as his child, scholar and writer,” his son Mukoma Wa Ngũgĩ wrote on X.
“I love him – I am not sure what tomorrow will bring without him here. I think that is all I have to say for now.”
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‘Influential writer’
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o was widely regarded as East Africa’s most influential writer and sought to forge a body of literature reflecting the land and people from which he came, and not follow in the footsteps of Western tradition.
He was tipped to win the Nobel Prize for Literature countless times, leaving fans dismayed each time the medal slipped through his fingers.
The academic and softly-spoken writer also lived a life as dramatic as his novels.
Colonialism
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s criticism of post-colonial Kenya, in which he described the violence of the political class and the newly rich as “the death of hopes, the death of dreams, and the death of beauty,” brought him into frequent conflict with the authorities.
He explored the troubled legacy of colonialism through essays, plays and novels, including “Weep Not, Child” (1964), “Devil on the Cross” (1980), and “Wizard of the Crow” (2006).
In his first collection of essays, “Homecoming,” he described himself as a “stranger in his own country.”
Jail
But his anger would later extend to the inequalities of post-colonial Kenyan society, incurring the wrath of the government, according to AFP.
In 1977, Ngugi and fellow writer Ngugi wa Mirii were jailed without charge after the staging of their play “Ngaahika Ndeenda” (“I Will Marry When I Want”).
Born James Ngugi into a large peasant family in Kenya’s central Limuru region on January 5, 1938, he spent the first 25 years of his life in what was then a British settler colony.
His early works were heavily influenced by his country’s battle against colonial rule and the brutal Mau Mau war of 1952-1960.
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