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Wole Soyinka: books and prizes

Wole Soyinka is a Nigerian writer of Yoruba heritage, known mainly as a playwright and also active as a poet, novelist and essayist. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986. According to the Nobel Foundation, criticism of Nigerian regimes led him to live mostly abroad, chiefly in the United States.¹

Works, in order of first publication

1. 1963A Dance of the Forests²play
2. 1963The Lion and the Jewel²play
3. 1965The Interpreters²novel
4. 1967Idanre and Other Poems²poetry
5. 1972The Man Died, Prison Notes²Listed among novels by the Nobel bibliographymemoir
6. 1973Season of Anomy²novel
7. 1975Death and the King's Horseman²play
8. 1976Myth, Literature and the African World²essays
9. 1981Aké, The Years of Childhood²memoir
10. 1988Mandela's Earth and Other Poems²poetry
11. 2002King Baabu²play
12. 2002Samarkand and Other Markets I Have Known²poetry
13. 2004The Climate of Fear²essays
14. 2006You Must Set Forth at Dawn²memoir

Prizes

1. 1986Nobel Prize in Literature¹For Body of work

Sources

1. Nobel Prize Outreach, Wole Soyinka, Facts, Nobel Prize in Literature 1986 (accessed 2026-10-28)
2. Nobel Prize Outreach, Wole Soyinka, Bibliography, Nobel Prize in Literature 1986 (accessed 2026-10-28)