HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the bo ...
Cyprian Odiatu Duaka Ekwensi (26 September 1921 – 4 November 2007) was a
Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...
author of novels, short stories, and children's books.


Biography


Early life, education and family

Cyprian Odiatu Duaka Ekwensi, an Igbo, was born in Minna, Niger State. He is a native of Nkwelle Ezunaka in
Oyi Oyi is a Local Government Area in Anambra State, Nigeria. It is home to the Oyi people. The towns that make up the local government are Nkwelle-Ezunaka, Awkuzu, Ogbunike, Umuneba, Umunya and Nteje. Oyi/Ayamelum is a Federal Constituency repre ...
local government area,
Anambra State Anambra State is a Nigerian state, located in the southeastern region of the country. The state was created on August 27, 1991. Anambra state is bounded by Delta State to the west, Imo State to the south, Enugu State to the east and Kogi St ...
, Nigeria. His father was David Anadumaka, a story-teller and elephant hunter. Ekwensi attended Government College in
Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano, with a total population of 3,649,000 as of 2021, and over 6 million people within its ...
,
Oyo State Oyo State is an inland state in southwestern Nigeria. Its capital is Ibadan, the third most populous city in the country and formerly the second most populous city in Africa. Oyo State is bordered to the north by Kwara State, to the east by Os ...
,
Achimota College Achimota School ( /ɑːtʃimoʊtɑː/ ), formerly Prince of Wales College and School at Achimota, later Achimota College, now nicknamed Motown, is a co-educational boarding school located at Achimota in Accra, Greater Accra, Ghana. The school ...
in Ghana, and the School of Forestry, Ibadan, after which he worked for two years as a forestry officer. He also studied pharmacy at Yaba Technical Institute, Lagos School of Pharmacy, and the Chelsea School of Pharmacy of the University of London. He taught at
Igbobi College Igbobi College is a college established by the Methodist and Anglican Churches in 1932, in the Yaba suburb of Lagos, Lagos State, South-western Nigeria. It is still on its original site and most of the original buildings are intact. It is one ...
. Ekwensi married Eunice Anyiwo, and they had five children. He has many grandchildren, including his son Cyprian Ikechi Ekwensi, who is named after his grandfather, and his oldest grandchild Adrianne Tobechi Ekwensi.


Governmental career

Ekwensi was employed as Head of Features at the
Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation The Voice of Nigeria or VON is the official international broadcasting station of Nigeria. History Founded in 1961, the Voice of Nigeria began life as the External Service of the then Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (now Federal Radio Corpo ...
(NBC) and by the Ministry of Information during the First Republic; he eventually became Director of the latter. He resigned his position in 1966, before the
Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...
, and moved to Enugu with his family. He later served as chair of the Bureau for External Publicity of Biafra, prior to its reabsorption by Nigeria.


Literary career

Ekwensi wrote hundreds of short stories, radio and television
scripts Script may refer to: Writing systems * Script, a distinctive writing system, based on a repertoire of specific elements or symbols, or that repertoire * Script (styles of handwriting) ** Script typeface, a typeface with characteristics of handw ...
, and several dozen novels, including children's books. His 1954 '' People of the City'' was his first book to garner international attention. His novel ''Drummer Boy'' (1960), based on the life of Benjamin 'Kokoro' Aderounmu was a perceptive and powerful description of the wandering, homeless and poverty-stricken life of a street artist. His most successful novel was ''
Jagua Nana ''Jagua Nana'' is a 1961 novel by Nigerian novelist Cyprian Ekwensi. The novel was later republished in 1975 as part of the influential Heinemann African Writers Series. The novel focuses on the contradictions within the life of an aging sex worke ...
'' (1961), about a Pidgin-speaking Nigerian woman who leaves her husband to work as a prostitute in a city and falls in love with a teacher. He also wrote a sequel to this, ''Jagua Nana's Daughter''. In 1968, he received the Dag Hammarskjöld's International Prize in Literature. In 2001, he was made an MFR and in 2006, he became a fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters.


Death

Ekwensi died on 4 November 2007 at the Niger Foundation in Enugu, where he underwent an operation for an undisclosed ailment. The Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), having intended to present him with an award on 16 November 2007, converted the honour to a posthumous award.


Selected works

* ''When Love Whispers'' (1948) * '' An African Night's Entertainment'' (1948) * ''The Boa Suitor'' (1949) * ''The Leopard's Claw'' (1950) * '' People of the City'' (London: Andrew Dakers, 1954)(This novel has been translated into Sinhala by Kumudu Champike Jayawardana (නුවරු – කුමුදු චම්පික ජයවර්ධන)) * ''The Drummer Boy'' (1960) * ''The Passport of Mallam Ilia'' (written 1948, published 1960) * ''
Jagua Nana ''Jagua Nana'' is a 1961 novel by Nigerian novelist Cyprian Ekwensi. The novel was later republished in 1975 as part of the influential Heinemann African Writers Series. The novel focuses on the contradictions within the life of an aging sex worke ...
'' (1961) * '' Burning Grass'' (1961) * '' An African Night's Entertainment'' (1962) * ''Beautiful Feathers'' (novel; London: Hutchinson, 1963) * ''Rainmaker'' (short stories; 1965) * ''Iska'' (London: Hutchinson, 1966) * '' Lokotown and Other Stories'' (Heinemann, 1966) * ''Restless City and Christmas Gold'' (1975) * ''Divided We Stand: a Novel of the Nigerian Civil War'' (1980) * ''Motherless Baby'' (Nigeria: Fourth Dimension Publishing Company, 1980) * ''Jagua Nana's Daughter'' (1987) * ''Behind the Convent Wall'' (1987) * ''The Great Elephant Bird'' (Evans Brothers, 1990 * ''Gone to Mecca'' (Heinemann Educational Books, 1991) * ''Jagua Nana's Daughter'' (1993) * ''Masquerade Time'' (children's book; London: Chelsea House Publishing; Jaws Maui, 1994) * ''Cash on Delivery'' (2007, collection of short stories)


References


Further reading

* * * Shola Adenekan
Cyprian Ekwensi obituary
''The Guardian'', 24 January 2008 * Sonnie Ekwowusi

''This Day'', 13 November 2007 (column by former student)


External links



{{DEFAULTSORT:Ekwensi, Cyprian 1921 births 2007 deaths Government College, Ibadan alumni Nigerian male novelists Alumni of Achimota School Nigerian children's writers People from Minna Igbo writers Igbo children's writers Igbo pharmacists Igbo novelists 20th-century Nigerian novelists 21st-century Nigerian writers People of the Nigerian Civil War International Writing Program alumni 20th-century male writers Nigerian expatriates in the United Kingdom