Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka has revealed that he faced risks as the first sub-Saharan African to win the literary Nobel Prize.
The renowned author’s “wide cultural perspective and… poetic overtones fashioning the drama of existence” earned him the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature.
However, in an interview with CNN’s Larry Madowo that was made public on Thursday, the writer clarified that becoming involved in Nigerian politics put him in opposition to the ruling class and put him in danger.
He said winning the coveted price also exposed him more as he felt isolated.
“I felt isolated when I won the Nobel Laureate and I felt much relieved when another African won it. I felt isolated because so much was demanded of me overnight. It was like your constituency was expanded simply because you’re from Africa.
At the same time, especially in a society like ours, it exposes you more.
“So it exposes me also to very great danger because I refuse to back down on my beliefs and activities simply because I became a Nobel Laureate,” Soyinka said.
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He said, “I always remind people that the most brutal dictator we ever had here, Sani Abacha, would have gone to his grave a happy man if he hanged a Nobel laureate. If he had been able to put on his CV that he hanged a Nobel laureate. As it was, he had to be content with hanging an activist and writer, Ken Saro Wiwa.”
From 1993 to 1998, Soyinka fled Nigeria on a motorcycle across the Benin border during Abacha’s autocratic rule. Later, Abacha declared that he was guilty “in absentia” of the crime. After democracy was restored in 1999, Soyinka went back to the nation.
Reflecting on how he celebrates his birthdays, the literary icon said he doesn’t fancy birthdays.
“Well, that’s the annoying thing. I don’t feel 90. I feel I just have taken birthdays for granted. “Usually, what I do on my birthdays is disappear into the forest. That is my normal way of spending birthdays,” Soyinka, who turned 90 on July 13, 2024, said.
