Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde “Wole” Soyinka CFR Akínwándé Olúwọlé Babátúndé “Wọlé” Ṣóyínká, born 13 July 1934) is a Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist in the English language. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature for his “wide cultural perspective and… poetic overtones fashioning the drama of existence”, the first sub-Saharan African to win the Prize in literature. Olúwọlé Ṣóyínká’s Early life Soyinka was born into a Yoruba family in Abeokuta, Nigeria. In 1954, he attended Government College in Ibadan, and subsequently University College Ibadan and ...