Iser bio & publications

Director, International Center for Writing and Translation
Distinguished Professor, Comparative Literature
UC Irvine
ngugi@uci.edu

Playwright, essayist and novelist Ngugi wa Thiong'o is Director of the International Center for Writing and Translation and Distinguished Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature at UC Irvine. Born in Kenya, Professor Thiong'o received his B.A. in English at Makerere University College in Kampala (1963). He has taught in the Department of Literature, University of Narobi (1967-1977), served as Fellow in Creative Writing at Makerere University (1969-1970), and was Visiting Associate Professor at Northwestern University (1970-1971).

Professor Thiong'o's first play, The Black Hermit, was performed at the National Theatre in Kampala, Unganda in 1962. During this period, he also published his first novel, Weep Not, Child (1964), followed by The River Between (1965) and A Grain of Wheat (1967). His next novel, Petals of Blood, was published in 1977. In that same year, his play, Nagaahika Ndeenda (I Will Marry Wnen I Want), was first performed. Because the play was critical of the injustices within Kenyan society and championed the use of Gikuyu, Professor Thiong'o was imprisoned and released in 1980 after he was declared a Prisoner of Conscience by Amnesty International.

Barred by the Kenyan government from assuming university positions in the country, Professor Thiong'o continued his publishing and theatrical production in Kenya, Britian and the United States. Within the U.S., he has held distinguished professor appointments at Temple, Amherst, Smith and Yale University. His works have been translated into over thirty languages and has received numerous international honors including the Nonino Prize (2001), foreign honorary member at the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2003), and honorary life membership in the Council for the Development of Social Sciences Research in Africa (CODESRIA) (2003).

Professor Thiong'o's most recent novel is Murogi wa Kagogo (Wizard of the Crow, 2004, 2006, English). Set in the fictional country, Aburiria, Murogi wa Kagogo is an examination of the cult of dictatorship in Africa and the rest of the world. Selected bibliography and works can be found on Professor Thiong'o's faculty page.