IN SHORT

Professor Akinwande Oluwole Soyinka achieved international fame in 1986 when he became the first African to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. However, he admits that the recognition came as a surprise, an honourable accolade that went against the grain of his preference for anonymity and the solitude necessary to exercise his creative pursuits. Nevertheless, it was a well-deserved recognition that called attention to an individual whose passions for political truth and social justice landed him in prison more than once. As he has repeated over the years: “Justice is the first condition of humanity.”