MWE Correspondent
Renowned Kenyan author and literary icon Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o has passed away at the age of 87, leaving behind a towering legacy of resistance, cultural pride, and linguistic revolution.
His daughter, Wanjiku wa Ngũgĩ, confirmed the news through a Facebook post on Wednesday, May 28, 2025, saying: “He lived a full life, fought a good fight.”
Ngũgĩ died in Buford, Georgia, in the United States, where he spent the later years of his life. His death marks the end of an era in African literature and intellectual thought, but his works continue to shape conversations on decolonization and cultural identity worldwide.
Born James Ngugi on January 5, 1938, in Kamiriithu, Kiambu County, Kenya, Ngũgĩ’s journey from a schoolboy in colonial Kenya to a globally celebrated author was defined by bold choices and unrelenting advocacy for African voices. His early novels—Weep Not, Child (1964), The River Between (1965), and A Grain of Wheat (1967)—were written in English, but in 1977, he made a pivotal decision: he renounced English and colonial naming conventions, adopting his Gikuyu name, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, and began writing in his mother tongue, Gikuyu.
This act was more than symbolic. For Ngũgĩ, language was not just a medium of communication—it was a vessel of culture, a shield of identity, and a weapon against domination. His seminal non-fiction work, Decolonising the Mind (1986), laid bare the deep psychological scars of linguistic imperialism and called for an African literary renaissance rooted in indigenous languages.
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That conviction came at a cost. His 1977 play, Ngaahika Ndeenda (I Will Marry When I Want), co-written with fellow writer Ngũgĩ wa Mirii, led to his arrest and year-long detention in a Kenyan maximum-security prison. Despite state repression, exile, and threats to his life, Ngũgĩ remained undeterred. In 1982, he went into exile, eventually settling in the U.S. and teaching at University of California, Irvine, where he became a Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature.
Ngũgĩ’s later novels, such as Devil on the Cross and Wizard of the Crow, combined biting satire with rich storytelling to explore the struggles of postcolonial Africa—corruption, inequality, and the dream of liberation. Yet, even at his most critical, his stories were driven by deep love for the continent and its people.
He is survived by his wife, Njeeri wa Ngũgĩ, and children, including acclaimed writers Mũkoma wa Ngũgĩ and Wanjiku wa Ngũgĩ, both of whom have continued in their father’s literary footsteps.
From the dusty schoolrooms of colonial Kenya to lecture halls around the world, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o never wavered in his mission: to reclaim African voices, languages, and stories. Today, readers across the globe mourn the passing of a man who taught us that writing could be an act of rebellion—and love.
