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Written by Administrator
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Sunday, 02 November 2008 00:56 |
 Soyinka was born on 13 July 1934, in the town of Isara-Remo,Ogun State in Western Nigeria (at that time a British dominion), as second of six children of Samuel Ayodele Soyinka and Grace Eniola Soyinka. His father, whom Wole often refers to as S.A. or "Essay" in literalized form, was the headmaster of St. Peters School in Abẹokuta. Wole's mother, dubbed "Wild Christian" by Wole, owned a shop in the nearby market and was a respected political activist within the women's movement in the local community. She followed the Anglican faith, although among his father's family and in the vicinity, there were many followers of the indigenous Yorùbá religious tradition. Soyinka since the beginning had grown in an atmosphere of religious syncretism, which has had a great influence on his yet forming personality, because as a little boy he had contact with the traditional Yorùbá beliefs as well as Christianity.
In 1939 when Wole was barely five years old, World War II erupted. The home of the Soyinka family had electricity and radio (chiefly thanks to his father), so little Wọle listened with curiosity to the news from war-torn Europe. This information was almost completely dominated by Adolf Hitler, leader of Nazi Germany.
In 1940, after attending St. Peters Primary School, Soyinka went to Abẹokuta Grammar School, where he won several prizes for literary composition. In 1946 he was accepted by Government College in Ibadan, at that time Nigeria’s most elite secondary school. Upon completion of his studies there, Soyinka moved to Lagos where he found employment as a clerk. During this time he wrote some radio plays and short stories that were broadcast on Nigerian radio stations. After finishing his course in 1952, Soyinka began studies at University College in Ibadan, connected with University of London. During this course he studied English literature, Greek, and Western history.
In the year 1953-1954, his second and last at University College, Ibadan, Soyinka commenced work on his first publication, a short radio broadcast for Nigerian Broadcasting Service National Programme called "Keffi's Birthday Threat," which was broadcast in July 1954 on Nigerian Radio Times. Whilst at university, Soyinka and six others founded the Pyrates Confraternity, the first confraternity in Nigeria. He then moved to Leeds, England to attend the University of Leeds.
Soyinka gives a detailed account of his early life in Aké: The Years of Childhood, which chronicles his experiences until about the age of ten.
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