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Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
Novelist & champion of African languages
The writer who fought to decolonize the African mind.
The rise
With novels like Weep Not, Child and Petals of Blood, Ngũgĩ became one of Africa's most celebrated authors.
What they did
He abandoned English for his native Gikuyu to write for ordinary Africans, and his essays — above all 'Decolonising the Mind' — reframed how the continent thinks about language and power.
The full picture
Imprisoned without trial for a play in Gikuyu, he spent decades in exile, never softening his critique of post-colonial elites.
Why it matters
Ngũgĩ insisted that liberation is incomplete until a people reclaim their own languages and stories.
“The choice of language is central to a people's definition of themselves.”