Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. News. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, one of the most respected African writers, died on May 28, 2025, in Atlanta, USA. He was 87 years old. His daughter shared the news on Facebook, saying he lived a full life and fought a good fight. Many people around the world are now remembering his powerful writing and strong beliefs.
Ngũgĩ was born in 1938 in Kenya, which was under British rule at the time. He grew up during the Mau Mau rebellion, a fight for Kenya’s independence. His family suffered a lot—his father lost their land, and two of Ngũgĩ’s brothers were killed. These events strongly influenced his writing. His first novel, Weep Not, Child, published in 1964, told the story of a boy whose life changes because of colonial violence.
Ngũgĩ became a teacher at Nairobi University, where he encouraged students to read African literature, not just European works. In the 1970s, he decided to stop writing in English and began writing in Gikuyu, his native language. He believed that African languages were important and deserved to be used in serious writing.
In 1977, he was arrested for co-writing a play in Gikuyu called I Will Marry When I Want. After spending time in prison, he left Kenya in 1982 and lived in exile. He worked as a professor in the United States but never stopped writing or speaking out for African culture and justice.
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Ngũgĩ’s books, including Devil on the Cross and Wizard of the Crow, deal with difficult topics like dictatorship, poverty, and inequality. He was often mentioned as a possible winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. In 2021, he became the first person nominated for the International Booker Prize for a novel written in an African language.
Ngũgĩ had nine children, including four who are also writers. His legacy lives on through his words, his beliefs, and the many people he inspired.