14 Greatest All times Nigerian Writers

Amos Tutuola (20 June 1920 – 8 June 1997)

    Writer

Notable works

The Palm-Wine Drinkard (1952)

My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1954)

Simbi and the Satyr of the Dark Jungle (1955)

The Brave African Huntress (1958)

Feather Woman of the Jungle (1962)

Ajaiyi and his Inherited Poverty (1967)

The Witch-Herbalist of the Remote Town (1981)

The Wild Hunter in the Bush of the Ghosts (1982)

Yoruba Folktales (1986)

Pauper, Brawler and Slanderer (1987)

The Village Witch Doctor and Other Stories (1990)

Chinua Achebe (16 November 1930 – 21 March 2013)

His first novel-Things Fall Apart is the most widely read book in modern African literature.

Novelist, Poet, Professor, and Social critic

Chinua Achebe
Image Courtesy:Stuart C. Shapiro

Notable Works

·         Things Fall Apart (1958) (most widely read book in modern African literature)

·         No Longer at Ease (1960)

·         Arrow of God (1964)

·         A Man of the People (1966)

·         Anthills of the Savannah (1987)

Notable Awards

·         Commonwealth Poetry Prize(1982)

·         Honorary Fellowship of the American Academy of Arts and Letters

·          Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2002)

·          Nigerian National Order of Merit

·         Peace Prize of the German Book Trade

·          The Man Booker International Prize 2007

·           Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize 2010

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (15 September 1977-  )
Writer, Lecturer

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Notable works

·         Purple Hibiscus, 2003

·         Half of a Yellow Sun, 2006

·         The Thing Around Your Neck, 2009

·         Americanah, 2013

 Notable Awards

·         BBC Short Story Competition  2002

·         David T. Wong International Short Story Prize (PEN American Center Award) 2002/2003

·         O. Henry Prize 2003

·         Hurston-Wright Legacy Award: Best Debut Fiction Category 2003

·         Commonwealth Writers' Prize: Best First Book (Africa) 2005

·         Commonwealth Writers' Prize: Best First Book (overall) 2005

·         Anisfield-Wolf Book Award: Fiction category 2006

·         PEN Beyond Margins Award 2006

·         Orange Broadband Prize: Fiction category 2006

·         Reader's Digest Author of the Year Award 2006

·         Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize: Fiction category 2013

·         National Book Critics Circle Award: Fiction category 2013

Karen Ann King-Aribisala

Novelist, and Short Story writer.

Notable Awards

Commonwealth Writers' Prize 1991

Best First Book Africa

Best Book Africa2008

Notable Works

Our Wife and Other Stories, 1990

Kicking Tongues, Heinemann, 1998

The hangman's game, 2007

Cyprian Ekwensi(26 September 1921 – 4 November 2007)

Pharmacist, broadcaster, author,Writer

Notable works

People of the City 1954   

Drummer Boy 1960

Jagua Nana 1961

Jagua Nana's Daughter

Notable Awards

Dag Hammarskjöld International Prize in Literature 1968

Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters. 2006

The Right Reverend Samuel Ajayi Crowther

 (1809 – 31 December 1891)

Writer and Clergy man

The Right Reverend Samuel Ajayi Crowther

Notable Works

·         Translated the English Bible into the Yoruba language

·         Compiling a Yoruba dictionary

·         Grammar book 1843

·         Anglican Book of Common Prayer(Yoruba version)

·         A primer for the Igbo language 1857

·         A primer for the Nupe language 1860

·         Full grammar and vocabulary of Nupe  1864.

Daniel Olorunfẹmi Fagunwa (1903 – 9 December 1963)

(pioneer of  Yoruba-language novel)

Civil Servant, Writer

Notable Works

·         Ògbójú Ọdẹ nínú Igbó Irúnmalẹ̀( The Forest of A Thousand Daemons) 1938

·         Igbo Olodumare( The Forest of God) 1949

·          Ireke Onibudo (1949)

·          Irinkerindo ninu Igbo Elegbeje (Expedition to the Mount of Thought, 1954

·         Adiitu Olodumare  1961

Helon Habila (1967-  )

Novelist , Poet, Lecturer and Journalist

Helon Habila

Notable works

Waiting for an Angel  (2004)

Measuring Time (2007)

Oil on Water (2010)

Notable Awards

·         Caine Prize 2001

·         Commonwealth Writers' Prize, Africa category 2003

·         Emily Clark Balch Prize (short story) 2007

·         Virginia Library Foundation Fiction Award 2008

·         Commonwealth Writers Prize2011

Samuel Johnson(24 June 1846 - 29 April 1901)

 Anglican priest and historian

Notable Works

Johnson, Samuel: The History of the Yorubas 1921.

Ben Okri (15 March 1959- )

 Poet and novelist

Ben Okri

Notable Works

·         Flowers and Shadows (1980)

·         The Landscapes Within (1981)

·         The Famished Road (1991)

·         An African Elegy (poetry, 1992)

·         Songs of Enchantment (1993)

·         Astonishing the Gods (1995)

·         Birds of Heaven (essays, 1996)

·         Dangerous Love (1996)

·         Infinite Riches (1998)

·         In Arcadia (2002)

·         Starbook (2007)

·         A Time for New Dreams (essays, 2011)

Notable Awards

·         Commonwealth Writers Prize (Africa Region, Best Book) 1987

·         Aga Khan Prize for Fiction 1987

·         1991 Booker Prize – The Famished Road

·         Order of the British Empire (OBE) 2001

       International Literary Award Novi Sad (International Novi Sad Literature Festival, Serbia) 2008 

Niyi Osundare(1947-  )

 Poet, dramatist and literary critic.

Notable Works

Songs from the Marketplace (1983)

Village Voices (1984)

The Eye of the Earth (1986)

Moonsongs (1988)

Songs of the Season (1999)

Waiting Laughters (1990, winner of the Noma Award)

Selected Poems (1992)

Midlife (1993)

Thread in the Loom: Essays on African Literature and Culture (2002)

The Word is an Egg (2002)

The State Visit (2002, play)

Pages from the Book of the Sun: New and Selected Poems (2002)

Early Birds (2004)

Two Plays (2005)

The Emerging Perspectives on Niyi Osundare (2003)

Not My Business (2005)

Tender Moments: Love Poems (2006)

Notable Awards

Commonwealth Poetry Prize

 Poetry Prize of the Association of Nigerian Authors)

Kenule "Ken" Beeson Saro Wiwa(10 October 1941 – 10 November 1995)

 Writer, TV producer, Environmental activist

Notable Works

Tambari (1973)

Songs in a Time of War.(1985).

 Sozaboy: A Novel in Rotten English (1986).

Mr. B. (1987).

Basi and Company: A Modern African Folktale(1987).

Basi and Company: Four Television Plays. (1987).

Prisoners of Jebs(1988).

Adaku & Other Stories. (1989).

Four Farcical Plays. (1989)

On a Darkling Plain: An Account of the Nigerian Civil War (1989).

Mr B Is Dead. (1991).  

Genocide in Nigeria: The Ogoni Tragedy(1992)

A Forest of Flowers: Short Stories(1995).

A Month and a Day: A Detention Diary(1995).

Lemona's Tale (1996).

Notable Awards

Right Livelihood Award 

Goldman Environmental Prize

     Zulu Sofola (22 June 1935 - 5 September 1995)

 First published female Nigerian playwright, Professor of Theater Arts in Africa and dramatist

 University lecturer and became the first female.

Notable Works

The Deer Hunter and The Hunter's Pearl (1969)

The Disturbed Peace of Christmas (1971)

Wedlock of the Gods (1972)

The Operators, Ibadan

King Emene: Tragedy of a Rebellion (1974)

The Wizard of Law (1975)

The Sweet Trap (1977)

Old Wines Are Tasty (1981)

Memories in the Moonlight (1986)

Queen Omu-ako of Oligbo, (1989)

Eclipso and the Fantasia, (1990)

The Showers(1991)

Song of a Maiden: A Play (1992)

Lost Dreams and Other Plays (1992)

Akinwande Oluwole "Wole" Soyinka(13 July 1934-  )

First Nobel Prize Winner and only so far  in Nigeria

Novelist , Play writer, Poem Writer, Lecturer, Social Activist

Wole Soyinka
Image Courtesy: Chidi Anthony Opara

Notable Works
"Keffi's Birthday Treat" (1954)
The Invention (1957)
The Swamp Dwellers (1958)
The Lion and the Jewel (1959)
The Trials of Brother Jero
A Dance of the Forests (1960)
My Father's Burden (1960)
 Egbe's Sworn Enemy (1960)
Madame Etienne's Establishment (1960)
The Strong Breed (1964)
  Before the Blackout (1964)

The Interpreters (1964)
Kongi's Harvest (1964)

  The Road (1965)
Idanre and other poems (1967)
Madmen and Specialists (1970)

The Man Died: Prison Notes (1971)
 Season of Anomy (1972)
The Bacchae of Euripides (1973)
Camwood on the Leaves (1973)
Jero's Metamorphosis (1973)
Death and the King's Horseman (1975)

Opera Wonyosi (1977)
Aké: The Years of Childhood (1981)
Requiem for a Futurologist (1983)
 Ibadan: The Penkelemes Years: a memoir 1946-65(1989)
 Isara: A Voyage around Essay (1990)

 The Beatification of Area Boy (1996)
Document of Identity (radio play, 1999)
King Baabu (2001)

 Samarkand and Other Markets I Have Known (2002)

 Notable Awards

Elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature(1983)

Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, United States(1983)

Nobel Prize for Literature (1986)

Agip Prize for Literature(1986)

Benson Medal from Royal Society of Literature(1990)

2009: Academy of Achievement Golden Plate Award

2013, Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, Lifetime Achievement, United States