Cyprian Ekwensi

Cyprian Ekwensi (1921-2007) was from Nkwelle Ezunaka, Anambra State, Nigeria, and his father was a well-known storyteller and elephant hunter. Ekwensi worked at the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation and the Ministry of Information, which he directed during the First Republic. He resigned from his position at the ministry before the Nigerian Civil War in the late 1960s. Ekwensi wrote hundreds of short stories, radio and television scripts, and several dozen works of fiction, including Drummer...See more

Cyprian Ekwensi (1921-2007) was from Nkwelle Ezunaka, Anambra State, Nigeria, and his father was a well-known storyteller and elephant hunter. Ekwensi worked at the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation and the Ministry of Information, which he directed during the First Republic. He resigned from his position at the ministry before the Nigerian Civil War in the late 1960s. Ekwensi wrote hundreds of short stories, radio and television scripts, and several dozen works of fiction, including Drummer Boy and Jagua Nana . In 1968, he won the Dag Hammarskjold International Prize in Literature, and in 2001 he was made a member of the Order of the Federal Republic. He became a fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters in 2006. See less