Chief Cyprian Odiatu Duaka Ekwensi (26 September 1921 – 4 November 2007) was a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...

author of novels, short stories, and

children's books A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''chi ...

Biography

Early life, education and family

Cyprian Odiatu Duaka Ekwensi, an Igbo, was born in Minna, the capital city of

Niger State Niger State is a state in the North Central (Nigeria), North Central region of Nigeria, bordered to the east by Kaduna State and the Federal Capital Territory (Nigeria), Federal Capital Territory, to the north by Kebbi State and Zamfara State, ...

, north-central Nigeria. He is a native of Nkwelle Ezunaka in Oyi local government area, Anambra State, southeastern

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. His father was David Anadumaka, a storyteller and elephant hunter. Ekwensi attended Government College in

Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the List of Nigerian cities by population, third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano (city), Kano, with a total populatio ...

Oyo State Oyo is a States of Nigeria, state in South West (Nigeria), southwestern Nigeria. Its capital is Ibadan, the List of Nigerian cities by population, third most populous city in the country and formerly the second most populous city in Africa. Oyo ...

in southwest Nigeria, Achimota College in

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

, 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 medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...

at Yaba Technical Institute, Lagos School of Pharmacy, and the Chelsea School of Pharmacy of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. He taught at

Igbobi College Igbobi College is a college established by the Methodism, Methodist and Anglican Church, Anglican Churches in 1932, in the Yaba (Lagos), Yaba suburb of Lagos, Lagos State, South-western Nigeria. It is still on its original site and most of the or ...

. 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 A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, and defected to Enugu with his family. He later served as chair of the Bureau for External Publicity of

Biafra Biafara Anglicisation (linguistics), anglicized as Biafra ( ), officially the Republic of Biafra, was a List of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, partially recognised state in West Africa that declared independence from Nigeria ...

, prior to its reabsorption by Nigeria.

Literary career

Ekwensi wrote hundreds of short stories, radio and television scripts, 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'' (1961), about a

Pidgin A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified form of contact language 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 f ...

-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.

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) * ''The Drummer Boy'' (1960) * ''The Passport of Mallam Ilia'' (written 1948, published 1960) * '' Jagua Nana'' (1961) * '' Burning Grass'' (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) * ''For A Roll Of Parchment'' (1986) * ''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 Nigerian male writers Nigerian expatriates in the United Kingdom