A dazzling memoir of an African childhood from Nobel Prize-winning
Nigerian novelist, playwright, and poet Wole Soyinka.
Aké The Years of Childhood gives us the story of Soyinka's boyhood
before and during World War II in a Yoruba village in western Nigeria
called Aké. A relentlessly curious child who loved books and getting
into trouble, Soyinka grew up on a parsonage compound, raised by
Christian parents and by a grandfather who introduced him to Yoruba
spiritual traditions. His vivid evocation of the colorful sights,
sounds, and aromas of the world that shaped him is both lyrically
beautiful and laced with humor and the sheer delight of a child's-eye
view. A classic of African autobiography, Aké is also a transcendantly
timeless portrait of the mysteries of childhood.