Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o is a novelist, essayist, playwright, journalist, editor, academic, and social activist. He was born in Kenya in 1938, into a large peasant family, and was educated in Kenya, Uganda, and Britain. A recipient of ten honorary doctorates, he is formerly Erich Maria Remarque Professor of Languages and professor of comparative literature and performance studies at New York University, and is currently Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Irvine.