Tribute to Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (1938-2025) Written by DAAAS Chair, Professor Ato Quayson
Ngugi wa Thiong’o (1938-2025) was a Kenyan writer who was considered East Africa’s leading novelist. His popular Weep Not, Child (1964) was the first major novel in English by an East African. The Department of African and African American Studies (DAAAS) Chair, Professor Ato Quayson, wrote a tribute to the literary figure for the Study of Africa and the African Diaspora at New York University (NYU).
"Like many people I knew Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o mainly from his writings, yet I feel his recent passing as a deep personal loss. There are reasons for this. I met and interacted with Ngũgĩ many times at conferences and public functions and held him in deep regard as a legend of African literature. I also kept abreast of the many wonderful stories told about him: his unbridled joy on the dance floor, his incredible sense of humor in personal conversation, and his generous mentoring of students and colleagues alike of different generations. My son’s mother is Italian and I am Ghanaian, but when he was born I suggested that we name him Kamau, after the Barbadian poet Kamau Brathwaite. Brathwaite, whose first name was originally Edward, had been given the name Kamau by Ngũgĩ’s grandmother in 1971 when he went to visit the Kenyan writer at his home while on a Visiting Fellowship at the University of Nairobi. We discovered later that the name Kamau means “the silent warrior” in Gĩkũyũ, giving the young man a great boost of confidence drawn from the subtle force of his name."