Ngugi wa Thiong’o (5 January 1938-28 May 2025)
Let us now look about us. Where are our national languages now? Where are the books written in the alphabets of our national languages? Where is our own literature now? Where is the wisdom and knowledge of our fathers now? Where is the philosophy of our fathers now? The centres of wisdom that used to guard the entrance to our national homestead have been demolished; the fire of wisdom has been allowed to die; the seats around the fireside have been thrown on to a rubbish heap; the guard posts have been destroyed; and the youth of the nation has hung up its shields and spears.
— Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Devil on the Cross (Oxford: Heinemann, 1987), p. 58–9.
It was announced a few days ago that the Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong’o has died at age 87 on 28 May, 2025. His daughter Wanjiku Wa Ngugi wrote on Facebook: “It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our dad, Ngugi wa Thiong’o”.
Ngugi’s output of novels, plays, and critical writings is an extraordinary legacy of work which not only focused on analysing culture from a radical perspective but also producing culture with that perspective. Such novels as Devil on the Cross (Caitaani mũtharaba-Inĩ)(1980), Weep Not, Child (1964), The River Between (1965), A Grain of Wheat (1967), Petals of Blood (1977), Matigari ma Njiruungi (1986), and Mũrogi wa Kagogo (Wizard of the Crow, 2006). His analytical writings included Barrel of a Pen: Resistance to Repression in Neo-Colonial Kenya (1983), Writing against Neo-Colonialism (1986), Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature (1986), and Moving the Centre: The Struggle for Cultural Freedoms (1993).
Ngugi went one step further when he decided to write his novels and plays in Gikuyu, thereby giving hope to writers all over the world writing in minority or oppressed languages.
When I was doing my PhD on the relationship between the Irish language movement and Irish politics, I was very interested in talking to him about this linguistic aspect of his work. I had written to him from Dublin and not heard back, so when I was visiting my cousins in Connecticut I rang NYU and was put straight through to him. I told him I had written to him, and he said he had got the letter and asked if I could meet him in NYU on the following Wednesday at 1pm (6 May 1998). Naturally I was delighted. I arrived at his office at the allotted time on Wednesday and it was great to meet him.
However, after about ten minutes chat, he said that he had to go to an interview of an applicant for a performance arts masters in a different building. He said, ‘Come with me’, so I went. We went to a different building and met the applicant and the other interviewers. Ngugi asked her if it was OK for me to sit on the panel too. She said fine, and we went into another room and they interviewed her. I made a comment about my own experiences working as a designer in community theatre. Afterwards, she was told she was accepted on the course and she gave everyone a hug including me.
Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Caoimhghin Ó Croidheáin at his home in New Jersey, USA, 6 May 1998
At that point Ngugi said he had to go to New Jersey to pick up his son from school and said to me, ‘Come with me’, so I went. We got into his car and had a great discussion on the way out about language and literature. I was interested in Ngugi’s novels in his native language as a model for a radical Irish literature in the Irish language. Ngugi was fascinated with all aspects of the Irish language and Irish history and politics.
We spent more time talking about those topics than about his own work. We picked up his son and then he invited me to his house where I met his wife and other family members. We had something to eat and continued our discussion practically non-stop. Eventually Ngugi looked at his watch and at this stage it was 10pm, and he said to me that he had better get me back into New York Times Square to get my last bus back to Connecticut. We continued our chat all the way back, after he had given me a couple of his signed books and we had a photo taken together.
I had spent the whole day with him in New York discussing literature and language. It was truly a great day meeting and talking to a giant of African literature.
The post Ngugi wa Thiong’o: The Death of a Radical Writer and Novelist first appeared on Dissident Voice.This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.