Connect with us

Throwback/Historical

Wole Soyinka At 87: Checkout 33 Amazing Throwback Photos Of The Literary Icon

Published

on

Legendary playwright and Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, just turned 87.

The novelist, poet, essayist and activist was born in Abeokuta on 13 July 1954.

Wole Soyinka was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986. This made him the first sub-Saharan African to be honoured in that category.

To celebrate this icon, Jojo Naija is publishing some of his throwback photos., starting from his early years to the recent time.

Check out the photos:

Wole Soyinka at 4 Months old (1934) with his sister Tinu

At this primary school play: “Operetta The Magician” at St. Peters School, 1945. Wole (age 9) played the magician (in black)

1946. Secondary school days. Wole is on the right lying on his side by the school plaque which reads ‘ALL THE WORLD IS A STAGE’.

Wole Soyinka

Wole Soyinka

18 years old Soyinka as a Freshman at the University College Ibadan

On his matriculation day at the University College, Ibadan in the 50’s.

Wole Soyinka

Wole Soyinka in red, with his fellow freshmen at the University College, Ibadan (Now University of Ibadan) in 1952 where he studied for 2 years before being awarded a scholarship to finish his B.A degree at the University of Leeds.

Wole Soyinka

Wole Soyinka (R) clowns with a fellow Pyrate, Aig-Imoukhuende. (1953.)

23 year old Wole in Leeds (1957)

 

Wole Soyinka

Wole Soyinka at the University of Washington, April 1973.

Wole Soyinka

Walking on the streets of Limoges, France on October 23, 1986.

Wole Soyinka

Wole Soyinka, lecturing. April 1973. AFSTU lecture.

FESTAC ‘77. Having a discussion with then military Head of State, Olu Obasanjo

1986.  Wole Soyinka with colleagues J.P Clark(extreme left), Chinua Achebe (next to Clark)

 

 

Wole Soyinka

The activist with his mother, Grace Eniola Soyinka

Wole Soyinka

The Nobel laurate answers newsmen in front of Paris’ UNESCO building shortly after it was announced he had won the Nobel Prize in Literature (1986)

Wole Soyinka

Wole Soyinka

10th of December 1986. From L to R; Wole Soyinka (Nobel Prize for Literature) with his first son, Olaokun Soyinka and Their Majesties Queen Silvia and King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, at the Nobel banquet. Photo: SvensktPressfoto AB.

Wole Soyinka

09, December 1986. Stockholm, Sweden. Nobel Laureates. From left to right: Gerd Binnig (Physics), Yuan Lee (Chemistry), James Buchanan (Economics), H. Rohrer (Physics), Ernst Ruska (Physics), J. Polanyi (Chemistry), D. Herschbach (Chemistry), Stanley Cohen (Physiology/Medicine), W. Soyinka (Literature) & R. Levi-Montalcini (Physiology or Medicine). Not pictured: Elie Wiesel (Peace). Picture by Leif Jansson.

 

Wole Soyinka

Continue Reading
Advertisement