“Chinua Achebe disappointed me with his comments on my Nobel prize award in 1986”- Soyinka reveals

In 1986, Nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka won the Nobel Prize for Literature, and shortly after, the remarks he got from late Prof Chinua Achebe, was something which he described as disappointing.

In a conversation with Okey Ndibe an American-based Nigerian novelist, Soyinka considered the remarks from Prof Chinua Achebe as “uncalled for and disappointing.”

During that time, it was learnt that late Prof Chinua Achebe said, “The Nobel Prize did not make one the Asiwaju of African Literature.” According to Soyinka, the experience he had after winning the prize, brought envy in some areas, demands and lots of expectations, something that is common in any kind of achievement of human life.

“It was almost like because I won the Nobel Prize, I have no right to offer, to do what I used to do before all my life. I responded to it, even though I wanted to make light of it. I was a little bit disappointed and I didn’t see the necessity.” Soyinka said.

Soyinka who is 86 now, was born in Abeokuta, Nigeria, also won an award in 2009 (Academy of Achievement Golden Plate Award). He (Soyinka) has over 30 plays, 2 novels, 3 short stories, 5 Memoirs, 8 Poetry collections, 14 Essays and a lot more. In 1967, he was arrested by the federal government of General Yakubu Gowon and put in solitary for two years.

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