Peter K. Palangyo (1939 - 18 January 1993) was a

Tanzanian Demographic features of the population of Tanzania include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population. The population distribution in Tan ...

novelist and diplomat. His reputation rests on a single novel, ''Dying in the Sun'' (1968), which is considered by many to be one of the most compelling works of

modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

in African writing from this period.

Biography

Born to Rwa parents in

Meru District Meru District, officially the Meru District Council (''Wilaya ya Meru'', in Swahili language, Swahili) is one of seven Districts of Tanzania, districts of the Arusha Region of Tanzania.The District is bordered to the north by Longido District, to ...

Arusha Region Arusha Region () is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative Regions of Tanzania, regions and is located in the northeast of the country. The region's capital and largest city is the city of Arusha. The region is bordered by Kajiado County and Narok C ...

, Palangyo was educated locally, in

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

and the United States. He majored in biology at

St. Olaf College St. Olaf College is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, United States. It was founded in 1874 by a group of Norwegian-American pastors and farmers led by Pastor Bernt Julius Muus. The college is named after the King and th ...

in Northfield,

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, and went on to graduate school at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

. Abandoning the sciences for literature, he earned a diploma of education from

Makerere University College Makerere University (; Mak) is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922, and the oldest currently active university in East Africa. It became an independent national university in ...

and taught in several secondary schools. In 1968, Palangyo returned to the United States to join the writers' workshop at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

, and received an MFA in creative writing. Returning to Tanzania in 1972, he taught at the

University of Dar es Salaam The University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) (Swahili: ''Chuo Kikuu cha Dar es Salaam'') is a public university located in Ubungo District, Dar es Salaam Region, Tanzania. It was established in 1961 as an affiliate college of the University of London. ...

before joining the diplomatic service. At one point he was Tanzania's Ambassador to France. In 1980, he earned a PhD from

University at Buffalo, The State University of New York The State University of New York at Buffalo (commonly referred to as UB, University at Buffalo, and sometimes SUNY Buffalo) is a public university, public research university in Buffalo, New York, Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. ...

, with a thesis on

Chinua Achebe Chinua Achebe (; born Albert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe; 16 November 1930 – 21 March 2013) was a Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic who is regarded as a central figure of modern African literature. His first novel ''Things Fall Apart'' ( ...

.Palangyo, ''The African sense of self with special reference to Chinua Achebe : a dissertation'', PhD thesis, State University of New York at Buffalo, 1980. Palangyo died in a car accident in 1993.

Works

* ''Dying in the Sun'', London: Heinemann, 1968.

African Writers Series The African Writers Series (AWS) is a collection of books written by African novelists, poets and politicians. Published by Heinemann (publisher), Heinemann, 359 books appeared in the series between 1962 and 2003. The series has provided an int ...

53.

References

External links

The United Republic of Tanzania Embassies and Diplomatic Missions profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palangyo, Peter K. 1939 births 1993 deaths University of Minnesota alumni St. Olaf College alumni Tanzanian novelists Tanzanian diplomats Modernist writers 20th-century novelists Ambassadors of Tanzania to France International Writing Program alumni English-language writers from Tanzania Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni people from Arusha Region Road incident deaths