Ngugi wa Mirii (1951 – 2/3 May 2008) was a

Kenyan ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

Zimbabwean Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Moza ...

playwright, social worker and teacher, most known for his play ''

Ngaahika Ndeenda ''Ngaahika Ndeenda'' (''I Will Marry When I Want'') is a controversial play that covers post-colonial themes of class struggle, poverty, gender, culture, religion, modernity vs. tradition, and marriage and family. The play was written by Ngũgĩ w ...

'', which he co-authored with fellow Gikuyu writer

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (; born James Ngugi; 5 January 1938) is a Literature of Kenya, Kenyan author and academic who writes primarily in Gikuyu language, Gikuyu and who formerly wrote in English language, English. He has been described as having bee ...

.''The Times'', June 8, 2008
Ngugi wa Mirii: Modern African playwright
/ref> The play depicts the injustices and excesses of post-colonial Kenya, and was staged by non-intellectuals in an open-air theatre at the Kamirithu Educational and Cultural Center in

Limuru Limuru is a town in central Kenya. It is also the name of a parliamentary constituency and an administrative division. The population of the town, as of 2004, was about 4,800. In a census taken in 2019 the population had increased to 159,314. Loc ...

Early life

Born in Roromo,

, Kenya, Ngugi wa Mirii was the second born in a family of six children born to John Mirii and Elizabeth Wanjiku. He was educated at Ngenia Secondary School and from 1972 to 1974 worked with the

Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (KPTC) was a government company that provided telecommunication and postal services across Kenya. In 1999, the KPTC was separated into three separate entities - Telkom Kenya, Kenya Postal Corporation a ...

. He obtained a diploma in Adult Education at the Institute of Adult Studies,

Nairobi University , mottoeng = In unity and work , image = Uon emblem.gif , image_size = 210px , caption = Coat of Arms of the University , type = Public , endowment ...

, and then joined the Institute of Development Studies. While working there he became involved with peasants and workers in community development at

Kamiriithu Kamirithu is a settlement in Kambu County, within Kenya's former Central Province. It was one of the colonial villages established during the scramble for the Kenyan "White Highlands" in the early 1900s. Kamirithu is the home of Chief Kamiri ...

, Limuru.

Playwright

In 1977, Ngugi wa Mirii and Ngugi wa Thiong'o co-authored a play titled ''

'' (''I Will Marry When I Want''). Both playwrights were arrested six weeks after the play debuted, and detained in prison. Five years later, their next play ''Mother Cry for Me,'' forced both playwrights into exile, with Ngugi wa Mirii settling in Zimbabwe while Ngugi wa Thiong'o fled first to Britain, and then to the United States.

Exile

In 1982, Ngugi wa Mirii fled to

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

where he lived in exile. Ngugi wa Mirii was joined a year later by his wife, Wairimu wa Ngugi and one-year old daughter, Elizabeth Wanjiku Ngugi. He then joined Zimbabwean Foundation for Education with Production (ZIMFEP) where he worked for several years. In Zimbabwe, he wrote extensively about the

Pan-African Pan-Africanism is a worldwide movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all Indigenous and diaspora peoples of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atlantic slave trade, the movement exte ...

cause. In 1985, he was awarded funding to found the Zimbabwean Association of Community Theatre. He was granted Zimbabwean citizenship shortly after. Ngugi wa Mirii was known as a supporter of

Robert Mugabe Robert Gabriel Mugabe (; ; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of the ...

and Zanu-PF.

Death

On 3 May 2008, Ngugi wa Mirii died in a car accident in Zimbabwe, after he drove into a stationary lorry nearby the suburb of Eastlea. He was 57 at the time.

Works

* '' Ngaahika Ndeenda (I Will Marry When I Want),'' co-written with Ngugi wa Thiong'o (1977)

References

Kenyan writers 1951 births 2008 deaths Road incident deaths in Zimbabwe Kikuyu-language writers People from Kiambu County {{Kenya-writer-stub