Kenyan-born author-scholar and one of Africa’s finest and most prolific novelists, playwrights, and post-colonial theorists, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, has passed away. He died Wednesday morning in Atlanta, USA, aged 87, according to a Facebook post by his daughter, Wanjiku Wa Ngugi.
“It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our dad, Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o, this Wednesday morning, 28th May 2025,” Wanjiku Wa Ngugi wrote.
“He lived a full life, fought a good fight. As was his last wish, let’s celebrate his life and his work. Rĩa ratha na rĩa thũa. Tũrĩ aira!—a Gikuyu phrase loosely translating to “With joy and sorrow. We are proud.
“The family’s spokesperson, Nducu Wa Ngug,i will announce details of his celebration of life soon,” she said.
Born James Ngugi in 1938 in Kamiriithu near Limuru, Kenya, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o was a champion of African languages, culture, and liberation through literature, and gained global recognition for his powerful political voice and literary innovations. His works often focused on themes of colonialism and decolonisation, cultural identity, and social justice.
Students of African Literature will remember Ngugi’s books. He wrote books like Weep Not, Child, A Grain of Wheat, The River Between, Petals of Blood, Trial of Dedan Kimathi, Devil on the Cross, among others. Some of these books were recommended texts for Literature in the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) at one time or the other.
But his works transcended creative writing as he was also a very prolific critical theorist. He gave the world books like Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature, Something Torn and New: An African Renaissance, The Language of Languages, Globalectics: Theory and the Politics of Knowing, Writers in Politics: A Re-engagement with Issues of Literature & Society, In the Name of the Mother: Reflections on Writers and Empire, Penpoints, Gunpoints, and Dreams: Towards a Critical Theory of the Arts and the State in Africa, among numerous others.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o began writing in English. However, as he became sensitised to the effects of colonialism in Africa, he embraced Fanonist Marxism, renounced writing in English and began to write in his native Gikuyu. By 1970, he had dropped the name James Ngugi, which he called colonialist, and adopted his traditional name, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o.
