NAIROBI, Kenya May 29 \u2013 President William Ruto has led the country in mourning the death of celebrated author and scholar Prof. Ng\u0169g\u0129 wa Thiong\u2019o, who passed away in the United States at the age of 87.<\/p>\n
Describing Ng\u0169g\u0129 as \u201cKenya\u2019s greatest man of letters\u201d and a \u201cfearless voice for justice, truth, and African identity,\u201d the President paid tribute to the late professor\u2019s towering legacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have learnt with deep sadness about the death of our beloved teacher, writer, playwright, and public intellectual, Prof. Ng\u0169g\u0129 wa Thiong\u2019o. The towering giant of Kenyan letters has put down his pen for the final time,\u201d said Ruto in a statement from State House.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlways courageous, he made an indelible impact on how we think about our independence, social justice, and the uses and abuses of political and economic power.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ruto praised Ng\u0169g\u0129\u2019s bold, creative career that inspired both admiration and challenge. \u201cHe showed us how to make contributions that cannot be ignored, and to speak in ways that both supporters and opponents could not dismiss,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While Ng\u0169g\u0129 never received the Nobel Prize in Literature\u2014a recognition many Kenyans believed he deserved\u2014Ruto said the writer would always remain \u201cthe champion of literary emancipation and innovation in our hearts and minds.\u201d<\/p>\n
The President\u2019s tribute was among a flood of condolence messages from national leaders, cultural figures, and literary enthusiasts across the continent.<\/p>\n
A Literary Giant Falls<\/strong><\/p>\n Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga said the death of Prof. Ng\u0169g\u0129 marked the fall of a continental giant. Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi hailed him as \u201cone of the most distinguished literary minds to ever emerge from the region,\u201d whose writings, including The River Between<\/em>, Petals of Blood<\/em>, and A Grain of Wheat<\/em>, \u201cilluminated the soul of a nation, challenged the status quo, and gave voice to generations.\u201d<\/p>\n Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua called Ng\u0169g\u0129 \u201ca literary genius\u201d who inspired his appreciation for symbolic language and communication, while Music Copyright Society of Kenya CEO Dr. Ezekiel Mutua described him as \u201cone of Africa\u2019s most powerful minds.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThrough masterpieces like Petals of Blood<\/em> and Ngahika Ndeenda<\/em>, written in both Kikuyu and English, Ng\u0169g\u0129 became a towering figure and a celebrated thinker,\u201d said Mutua.<\/p>\n The End of an Era<\/strong><\/p>\n Ng\u0169g\u0129\u2019s family confirmed he passed away on Wednesday morning, May 28, in the United States after a long illness. In a Facebook post, his daughter, author Wanjiku wa Ng\u0169g\u0129, wrote:<\/p>\n \u201cIt is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our dad\u2026 He lived a full life, fought a good fight. As was his last wish, let\u2019s celebrate his life and his work.\u201d<\/p>\n She added that the family spokesperson, Nducu wa Ng\u0169g\u0129, would announce details of his celebration of life in the coming days.<\/p>\n Born James Ngugi on January 5, 1938, Prof. Ng\u0169g\u0129 wa Thiong\u2019o was a novelist, playwright, essayist, and academic who pioneered the decolonisation of African literature through language. He began his career writing in English but later embraced his native Gikuyu, championing linguistic authenticity and cultural liberation.<\/p>\n His powerful works addressed colonialism, nationalism, corruption, and identity, and he famously authored the novel Devil on the Cross<\/em> while in prison\u2014written on toilet paper after being jailed by the Kenyan government for co-authoring the politically charged play Ngaahika Ndeenda<\/em>.<\/p>\n Following his release, Ng\u0169g\u0129 went into exile and taught at several leading universities, including Yale, NYU, and the University of California, Irvine, where he served as Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature.<\/p>\n He was the founder of the Gikuyu-language journal M\u0169t\u0129iri<\/em>, and his short story The Upright Revolution: Or Why Humans Walk Upright<\/em> has been translated into over 100 languages.<\/p>\n Despite being frequently tipped for the Nobel Prize in Literature, the accolade remained elusive. However, Ng\u0169g\u0129 received numerous international honours, including the Nonino Prize (2001) and the Park Kyong-ni Prize (2016).<\/p>\n He leaves behind a literary legacy that will echo across generations, and a family of accomplished writers, including his children Mukoma wa Ng\u0169g\u0129 and Wanjiku wa Ng\u0169g\u0129.<\/p>\n His voice may be silent, but his words will live on.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NAIROBI, Kenya May 29 \u2013 President William Ruto has led the country in mourning the death of celebrated author and scholar Prof. Ng\u0169g\u0129 wa Thiong\u2019o, who passed away in the United States at the age of 87. Describing Ng\u0169g\u0129 as \u201cKenya\u2019s greatest man of letters\u201d and a \u201cfearless voice for justice, truth, and African identity,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115756\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u201cA giant African has fallen. Rest in eternal peace, author Prof. Ng\u0169g\u0129 wa Thiong\u2019o!\u201d he posted.<\/p>\n