Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o is a Kenyan writer and academic who is widely regarded as one of Africa's most important living writers. Born in 1938 in Limuru, Kenya, he has written novels, plays, short stories, and essays that have been translated into over 30 languages.

His seminal work Decolonising the Mind (1986) argued for the importance of writing in African languages rather than colonial languages. He made the radical decision to abandon English as his primary literary language in favor of Gikuyu and Kiswahili. His novels include Weep Not, Child, A Grain of Wheat, and Wizard of the Crow.