Wole Soyinka, Aké: the Years of Childhood (Nobel Prize Winner)

Wole Soyinka, Aké: The Years of Childhood. Aké: The Years of Childhood. Ibadan: Spectrum, 1996.

Paperback, 230 pages.

Wrappers a little rubbed. Very good condition.

Ake: the years of childhood is an intimate account of the first eleven years of the life of one of Africa's foremost writers, Wole Soyinka. Told through a child's questioning and imaginative eyes, we are taken back to the 1930s and 40s in Abeokuta, where wood spirits and ghommids competed with books and Christianity for the young Soyinka's attention. 

The story climaxes with the women's uprising in Egbaland, where Soyinka must have received his first lessons in Political Science as a go-between for two very outspoken and courageous women Eniola Soyinka, the author's mother, and his aunt, Mrs. Ransome-Kuti.

Ake is one of the finest examples of Soyinka's writing - full of a child's candour and innocence.