Chief 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 jour ...

author of novels, short stories, and

children's books A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younge ...

Biography

Early life, education and family

Cyprian Odiatu Duaka Ekwensi, an

Igbo Igbo may refer to: * Igbo people, an ethnic group of Nigeria * Igbo language, their language * anything related to Igboland, a cultural region in Nigeria See also * Ibo (disambiguation) * Igbo mythology * Igbo music * Igbo art * * Igbo-Ukwu, a ...

, was born in

Minna Minna is a city in Middle Belt Nigeria. It is the capital city of Niger State, one of Nigeria's 36 federal states. It consists of two major ethnic groups: the Gbagyi and the Nupe. History Archaeological evidence suggests settlement in th ...

Niger State Niger is a state in the North Central region of Nigeria and the largest state in the country. Niger state has three political zones, zone A,B and C. The state's capital is at Minna. Other major cities are Bida, Kontagora and Suleja. It was ...

. 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 ...

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 me ...

Oyo State Oyo State is an inland States of Nigeria, state in southwestern Nigeria. Its capital is Ibadan, the List of Nigerian cities by population, third most populous city in the country and formerly the second most populous city in Africa. Oyo State is b ...

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 schoo ...

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

, 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 The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. 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 Corpora ...

(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 policies ...

, and moved to Enugu with his family. He later served as chair of the Bureau for External Publicity of

Biafra Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a partially recognised secessionist state in West Africa that declared independence from Nigeria and existed from 1967 until 1970. Its territory consisted of the predominantly Igbo-populated form ...

, 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 ''People of the City'' is the debut novel of Cyprian Ekwensi first published in 1954 by Andrew Dakers Ltd. The novel was a predecessor to a number of other city novels in the Nigerian tradition. Development Ekwensi began writing the novel whil ...

'' 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'' (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 Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld ( , ; 29 July 1905 – 18 September 1961) was a Swedish economist and diplomat who served as the second Secretary-General of the United Nations from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in September 196 ...

'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 The Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) is a non-profit organization that promotes Nigerian literature. It represents Nigerian creative writers at home and abroad. It was founded in 1981 by Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe as its president. The ...

(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) * ''

'' (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'' (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

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