Books, Plays and Writings That Defined Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s Legacy Trailblazing novelist, playwright, essayist, and scholar, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o spent over six decades reshaping African literature through his fearless storytelling, linguistic revolution and political resistance. Born James Ngugi in Kamĩrĩĩthũ, Kenya, in 1938, he emerged as a literary force during the post-colonial awakening of East Africa. He began his academic journey at Makerere University in Uganda, where his early exposure to literature sparked a commitment to exploring African identity, memory, and history through writing. After studying in the UK at the University of Leeds, Ngũgĩ returned to Kenya energized by radical thought and the global anti-colonial wave. A towering figure in postcolonial thought and African letters, Ngũgĩ’s courageous shift from English to his native Gikuyu in the 1970s marked a radical stand for linguistic and cultural liberation. Below is a list of his published works. NOVELS * Weep Not, Child (1964) * The River Between (1965) * A Grain of Wheat (1967) * Petals of Blood (1977) * Devil on the Cross (1980) * Matigari (1986) * Wizard of the Crow (2006) * The Perfect Nine (2020) SHORT STORIES * A Meeting in the Dark (1974) * Secret Lives and Other Stories (1976) * Minutes of Glory and Other Stories (2019) PLAYS * The Black Hermit (1963) * This Time Tomorrow (1970) * The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (1976, with Micere Githae Mugo) * I Will Marry When I Want (1977, with Ngũgĩ wa Mirii) * Mother, Sing For Me (1986) MEMOIRS * Detained: A Writer’s Prison Diary (1981) * Dreams in a Time of War (2010) * In the House of the Interpreter (2012) * Birth of a Dream Weaver (2016) * Wrestling with the Devil (2018) ESSAYS & NON-FICTION * Homecoming (1972) * Writers in Politics (1981) * Education for a National Culture (1981) * Barrel of a Pen (1983) * Writing Against Neo-Colonialism (1986) * Decolonising the Mind (1986) * Moving the Centre (1993) * Penpoints, Gunpoints and Dreams (1998) * Something Torn and New (2009) * Globalectics (2012) * Secure the Base (2016) * The Language of Languages (2023) CHILDREN'S BOOKS * Njamba Nene and the Flying Bus (1986) * Njamba Nene and the Cruel Chief (1988) * Njamba Nene’s Pistol (1990) * The Upright Revolution (2019) ---- Copied