Wole Soyinka

Updated: June 16, 2025

Name: Wole Soyinka
Birth Name: Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka
Date of Birth: July 13, 1934
Age: 90
Origin: Abeokuta, Nigeria
Gender: Male
Nationality: Nigerian
Religion: Secular / Agnostic
Net worth: $10 million
Children: Olaokun Soyinka and others
Occupation: Playwright, Poet, Essayist, Professor
Genres: literature, drama, poetry, non-fiction
Husband / Wife: Folake Doherty-Soyinka
Ex wife: Barbara Dixon

Biography & Career:
Wole Soyinka is a Nigerian playwright, poet, essayist, and academic, celebrated for his profound influence on African literature and thought. The age of Wole Soyinka is 90, and he remains an enduring voice in global intellectual and cultural circles.

Widely recognized as Professor Wole Soyinka, he studied at University College Ibadan and later at the University of Leeds. He began his career in the 1960s and became known for blending Western literary traditions with Yoruba mythology and African political themes. In 1986, he became the first African to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, securing his place in literary history.

The Wole Soyinka biography is marked by both academic excellence and political activism. He was imprisoned during the Nigerian Civil War for attempting to broker peace and has remained a vocal critic of authoritarian regimes throughout his life. His work spans plays, novels, essays, and poetry, with a sharp focus on justice, identity, and freedom.

His family life has included marriages and children. He was first married to British writer Barbara Dixon, and his first wife bore him children. He later married Folake Doherty-Soyinka, his current wife. Among his children is a son, Olaokun Soyinka, who is a medical doctor.

Though his religion has been described as agnostic or secular, Soyinka often reflects on spiritual and philosophical themes in his writings.

Wole Soyinka Best Books:
The Man Died
Death and the King’s Horseman
Ake: The Years of Childhood
The Lion and the Jewel
Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth

Wole Soyinka Best Poems:
Telephone Conversation
Abiku
To My First White Hairs
In the Small Hours
Season