Click here to access a wonderfully crafted and informative lecture by William McPheron, discussing one of "contemporary Africa's greatest writers… Wole Soyinka." McPheron's lecture provides the viewer with information including a brief biography, a list of the author's accomplishments, and the profound impact of Soyinka's work. This site is an excellent place to begin research.

Conversations With History: Institute of International Studies
http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/Elberg/Soyinka/soyinka-con0.html

At this excellent site run by the University of California at Berkeley, you'll find an intriguing conversation with Soyinka, where he discusses subjects such as his early years, his writing, and his political activism. There is also a link to the university's "Wole Soyinka Page."

Paul Brian's Wole Soyinka Study Guide
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/anglophone/soyinka.html

This site, posted by Paul Brians (of Washington State University's Department of English), is an invaluable study guide to begin advanced research on the laureate's works. A list of Soyinka's books in this guide (with accompanying notes) includes The Lion and the Jewel, Madmen and Specialists, and The Trials of Brother Jero.

Mail & Guardian: Wole Soyinka
http://www.mg.co.za/mg/news/98oct2/28oc-soyinka1.html

Posted on this site is the speech (in its entirety) given by Soyinka upon his return to Nigeria. This speech is a "powerful public address" in that he wishes "to lay bare certain issues that have plagued this nation [Nigeria] even before Independence." A good way to familiarize yourself with the poet and his ideas.

BIOGRAPHY
Wole Soyinka (b. 1934), the popular name of Akinawnde Oluwole Soyinka, was born in Isara, Nigeria. He studied at the University College of Ibadan and at Leeds University in England, where he wrote his first play, The Invention (1955). In 1959 he returned to Ibadan , where he founded two theaters for the establishment of Nigerian drama. In 1960 Soyinka wrote a play to commemorate Nigeria's independence named A Dance of the Forests. His first novel, The Interpreters (1965), has been called the first modern African novel. During the Nigerian Civil War he was imprisoned (1967-1969), an experience he has written about in Poems from Prison (1969) and A Shuttle in the Crypt (1972). During several teaching posts at universities in Ife, Ibadan and Lagos, Soyinka continued to explore the tensions between an old colonial Africa and the new politically unstable one, producing such plays as Before the Blackout (1971), The Jero Plays (1973) and .Death and the King's Horseman Horseman(1975). In 1986 he was awarded the Nobel prize for Literature. Soyinka has published over 40 books of plays, poetry, fiction and nonfiction, and is widely considered one of contemporary Africa's greatest writers.