Chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

Cyprian Odiatu Duaka Ekwensi (26 September 1921 – 4 November 2007) was a Nigerian author of novels, short stories, and children's books.

Biography

Early life, education and family

Cyprian Odiatu Duaka Ekwensi, an Igbo, was born in Minna, Niger State. He is a native of Nkwelle Ezunaka in Oyi local government area, Anambra State, Nigeria. His father was David Anadumaka, a story-teller and elephant hunter. Ekwensi attended

Government College A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

in Ibadan, Oyo State, Achimota College in Ghana, and the School of Forestry, Ibadan, after which he worked for two years as a forestry officer. He also studied

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...

Yaba Technical Institute Yaba College of Technology, popularly known as YABATECH, was founded in 1947, and is Nigeria's first higher educational institution. It is located in Yaba, Lagos. It has a student enrollment of over 16,000. Overview Yaba College of Technology ...

, Lagos School of Pharmacy, and the Chelsea School of Pharmacy of the University of London. He taught at Igbobi College. Ekwensi married Eunice Anyiwo, and they had five children. He has many grandchildren, including his son Cyprian Ikechi Ekwensi, who is named after his grandfather, and his oldest grandchild Adrianne Tobechi Ekwensi.

Governmental career

Ekwensi was employed as Head of Features at the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) and by the Ministry of Information during the First Republic; he eventually became Director of the latter. He resigned his position in 1966, before the Civil War, and moved to Enugu with his family. He later served as chair of the Bureau for External Publicity of Biafra, prior to its reabsorption by Nigeria.

Literary career

Ekwensi wrote hundreds of short stories, radio and television

scripts Script may refer to: Writing systems * Script, a distinctive writing system, based on a repertoire of specific elements or symbols, or that repertoire * Script (styles of handwriting) ** Script typeface, a typeface with characteristics of ha ...

, and several dozen novels, including children's books. His 1954 '' People of the City'' was his first book to garner international attention. His novel ''Drummer Boy'' (1960), based on the life of Benjamin 'Kokoro' Aderounmu was a perceptive and powerful description of the wandering, homeless and poverty-stricken life of a street artist. His most successful novel was ''

Jagua Nana ''Jagua Nana'' is a 1961 novel by Nigerian novelist Cyprian Ekwensi. The novel was later republished in 1975 as part of the influential Heinemann African Writers Series. The novel focuses on the contradictions within the life of an aging sex worke ...

'' (1961), about a

Pidgin A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn from s ...

-speaking Nigerian woman who leaves her husband to work as a prostitute in a city and falls in love with a teacher. He also wrote a sequel to this, ''Jagua Nana's Daughter''. In 1968, he received the Dag Hammarskjöld's International Prize in Literature. In 2001, he was made an MFR and in 2006, he became a fellow of the

Nigerian Academy of Letters The Nigerian Academy of Letters is a national academy and apex body of arts and literature in Nigeria. It is an autonomous, scholarly and non-political state institution for advancing scholarship and public interest in the humanities at the highes ...

Death

Ekwensi died on 4 November 2007 at the Niger Foundation in Enugu, where he underwent an operation for an undisclosed ailment. The Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), having intended to present him with an award on 16 November 2007, converted the honour to a posthumous award.

Selected works

* ''When Love Whispers'' (1948) * '' An African Night's Entertainment'' (1948) * ''The Boa Suitor'' (1949) * ''The Leopard's Claw'' (1950) * '' People of the City'' (London: Andrew Dakers, 1954)(This novel has been translated into Sinhala by Kumudu Champike Jayawardana (නුවරු – කුමුදු චම්පික ජයවර්ධන)) * ''The Drummer Boy'' (1960) * ''The Passport of Mallam Ilia'' (written 1948, published 1960) * ''

'' (1961) * ''

Burning Grass ''Burning Grass'' is a novel by Nigerian author Cyprian Ekwensi. It was published in 1962 as the second book in Heinemann's African Writers Series. Publication ''Burning Grass'' was the first novel written for publication in the African Writ ...

'' (1961) * '' An African Night's Entertainment'' (1962) * ''Beautiful Feathers'' (novel; London: Hutchinson, 1963) * ''Rainmaker'' (short stories; 1965) * ''Iska'' (London: Hutchinson, 1966) * '' Lokotown and Other Stories'' (Heinemann, 1966) * ''Restless City and Christmas Gold'' (1975) * ''Divided We Stand: a Novel of the Nigerian Civil War'' (1980) * ''Motherless Baby'' (Nigeria: Fourth Dimension Publishing Company, 1980) * ''Jagua Nana's Daughter'' (1987) * ''Behind the Convent Wall'' (1987) * ''The Great Elephant Bird'' (Evans Brothers, 1990 * ''Gone to Mecca'' (Heinemann Educational Books, 1991) * ''Jagua Nana's Daughter'' (1993) * ''Masquerade Time'' (children's book; London: Chelsea House Publishing; Jaws Maui, 1994) * ''Cash on Delivery'' (2007, collection of short stories)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ekwensi, Cyprian 1921 births 2007 deaths Government College, Ibadan alumni Nigerian male novelists Alumni of Achimota School Nigerian children's writers People from Minna Igbo writers Igbo children's writers Igbo pharmacists Igbo novelists 20th-century Nigerian novelists 21st-century Nigerian writers People of the Nigerian Civil War International Writing Program alumni 20th-century male writers Nigerian expatriates in the United Kingdom