No one lives forever, but sometimes we wish the people we love and look up to would stay longer with us. However, the sad fact of life remains that some of these people are taken long before their lives fully begin, regardless of age.
Here is a list of some amazingly talented African writers/creatives who passed on through very tragic incidents, throwing the creative writing community into a state of devastation. They may have left this world, but they continue to live through the impactful works they left behind.
Indeed, writers never die.
Christopher Okigbo (August 16, 1932 – September 1967)
Christopher Ifekandu Okigbo was a Nigerian poet, teacher, and librarian. His poetry stood out for its lyrical, biographical, and prophetic nature. During his short, yet impactful lifetime, Okigbo published three collections of poetry: Heavensgate (1962), Limits (1964), and Silences (1965). His posthumous collections include Labyrinths with Path of Thunder (1971) and Collected Poems (1986).
When the Nigeria-Biafria civil war from broke out in 1967, Okigbo joined the Biafran army and headed to the battlefield. He was shot and killed in active combat at the war front in Nsukka front, in September 1967; two months into the war.
Okigbo died fighting for Biafra’s independence, at the age of 35.
Ken Saro-Wiwa (October 10, 1941 – November 10, 1995)
Ken Saro-Wiwa was a Nigerian writer, television producer and activist. He was a leading member of the Ogoni people. His literary publications included: Tambari (1973), Sozaboy (1985), A month and a day (1995), and many others.
Saro-Wiwa was the president, Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP). Despite rebukes from the military government, he continued to protest against the environmental degradation in Ogoni land, due to “operating practices of the Royal Dutch Shell oil company.”
Saro-Wiwa’s protests were often peaceful. However, he was arrested alongside eight of his kinsmen for allegedly masterminding the killing of Ogoni tribal leaders.
On November 10, 1995, the activist was executed by Gen. Sani Abacha’s junta in Nigeria. He and the eight other Ogonis were died by hanging.
The execution sparked international outrage, leading to Nigeria’s suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations from November 11, 1995 – May 29, 1999.
Saro-Wiwa died at the age of 54.
Kofi Awoonor (March 13, 1935 – September 21, 2013)
Kofi Awoonor was a Ghanaian poet, novelist, and scholar whose literary works, include translations of Ewe dirge singers. He authored several novels, plays, political essays, and literary criticism, including many volumes of poetry. Some of his works included; This Earth, My Brother (1971), Rediscovery and Other Poems (1964), Night of My Blood (1971), Ride Me, Memory (1973), The House by the Sea (1978), The Latin American and Caribbean Notebook (1992), among others.
His non-fictional works included; The Breast of the Earth: A Survey of the History, Culture, and Literature of Africa South of the Sahara (1975), Comes the Voyager at Last: A Tale of Return to Africa (1992), and The African Predicament (2006).
Awoonor served as Ghana’s ambassador to Brazil and Cuba (1984 to 1988, 1990 to 1994).
He was tragically killed in the terror attack on Westgate Mall on Saturday in Nairobi, Kenya on September 21, 2013.
He was 78 years old.
Festus Iyayi (September 29, 1947 – November 12, 2013)
Festus Iyayi was a Nigerian writer, academic and activist. His works were famous for fearlessly portraying the sociopolitical environment of contemporary Nigeria.
It is often said that a writer is the conscience of society, and Professor Iyayi took it personally, delivering back-to-back stories mirroring the social and political realities of Nigeria.
Some of his published works include Violence (1979), The Contract (1982), and Heroes (1986), among many others.
He was a former president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). On November 12, 2013, Iyayi died in a car crash involving the then Kogi state Governor Idris Wada’s convoy along the Lokoja-Abuja highway, while travelling to Kano to participate in a National Executive Council Meeting of ASUU. He died on the spot.
Iyayi was 66 years old.
Pius Adesanmi (February 27, 1972 – March 10, 2019)
Pius Adesanmi was a Nigerian-born Canadian writer, scholar, public speaker, social commentator, literary critic, and columnist. His writings reflected various aspects of the Nigerian society and politics.
His published works include Naija No Dey Carry Last (2015), You’re Not A Country, Africa (2011), Wayfarer & Other Poems (2001), Youth, Street Culture, and Urban Violence in Africa (1997). He also wrote countless insightful and engaging articles and essays.
Prof. Adesanmi served as Director of the Institute of African Studies at Carleton University.
Carleton University in a statement mourning his passing, described him as “eloquent and fearless in speaking truth to power”.
On March 10, 2019, Adesanya and 157 other passengers were killed when the ill-fated Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed at the Addis Ababa airport in Ethiopia.
He was 47 years old.
Mbongeni Ngema (May 10, 1955 – December 27, 2023)
Mbongeni Ngema was a South African playwright, musician, actor, producer, and the creator of the 1988 musical Sarafina! which was later adapted into the 1992 musical Sarafina! movie, starring Whoopi Goldberg and Leleti Khumalo.
The theatre legend rose to international prominence in the 1980s.
On Wednesday, December 27, Ngema was killed in a head-on collision, while he was returning from a funeral in the town of Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape province.
He was aged 68.
