frican authors are arguably not as well known as those from North American andEuropean countries. However, Africa is home to many gifted and acclaimed writers.Among the most important voices from Africa are Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka,and Ngugi wa Thiong’o. Many of these authors’ works deal with cultural customs andhistory. Some works express their criticism of colonialism.Chinua Achebe is a Nigerian novelist and poet. He began publishing his writing in thelate 1950s. Over his career, he has written six novels, dozens of essays and commentaries,collections of short stories and poems, and even children’s books. The bulk of his workdeals with African politics, precolonial African society, and the repercussions of colonialismon Africa, which he views as overwhelmingly negative.Achebe’s most acclaimed novel,Things Fall Apart ,was surprisingly his first andwas published in 1958. Since its first printing, it has sold ten million copies and has beentranslated into fifty languages, making Achebe the most translated African author of alltime! The work is widely read in academia and has been cited by Norway, England, theUnited States, and Africa as one of the top 100 novels of all time. It tells the story ofan African village during the 1800s and focuses on Okonkwo, one of the leaders of thecommunity. The village exists in relative harmony and order, until the appearance of a whiteman threatens their religion and traditional way of life. The change proves to be too muchfor Okonkwo, and ends very tragically. The work is representative of Achebe’s recurringthemes of African politics and the effects of colonialism, which appear frequently in his late works.Wole Soyinka, also from Nigeria, is considered the country’spremier playwright. Soyinka holds the distinction of being the firstAfrican to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. Although some ofSoyinka’s work centers on African colonialism like Achebe’s, he is alsoan outspoken critic of modern Nigerian governments and tyrannicalregimes worldwide. As a political activist, Soyinka has been persecutedfor his beliefs and actions. In 1967, he was imprisoned for nearly twoyears for trying to negotiate a peace agreement between two warringfactions in the Nigerian Civil War. In 1993, when a dictator took controlof Nigeria, Soyinka went into voluntary exile and has been living abroadsince that time. Soyinka’s best-known play isDeath and the King’s Horsemen ,which, likeThings Fall Apart ,focuses on the period of Britishcolonial rule and the negative effects resulting from the collision of twofundamentally different cultures.Ngugi wa Thiong’o was born in Kenya in 1938. When Kenyanrebels fought against the British administration there, in a conflict nowknown as the Mau Mau Uprising or Mau Mau Rebellion, Thiong’o wasalso affected. His mother was tortured, and his stepbrother killed inthe struggle. Thiongo’s literary career began with his first novel,Weep Not ,Child .This was followed byThe River Between ,which examinesthe uneasy coexistence between Christians and non-Christians. TheMau Mau Rebellion serves as a backdrop for the work. Like Soyinka,Thiong’o has also been a victim of political persecution. His 1977 playI Will Marry When I Want was highly critical of what has been termedneo-colonialism, the state of oppression and exploitation that hascontinued in Africa after the official end of colonial rule. Upon the releaseof the play, his arrest was ordered. He was held for a year in a maximum security prison. After his release, the loss of his job and the harassment of his family led to a relocation to London in 1982 and then to the United States, where he remains in self-imposed exile. Thiong’o briefly returned to Kenya in 2004, effectively ending his exile, but was again victimized when he and his wife were physically assaulted in their apartment. The works of these authors are rich in historical facts, cultural insight, and political conviction. Their willingness to speak out in spite of personal danger is a testament to their vision, their commitment to raise awareness of cultural ideals, and their desire to bring about social change