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My mind immediately shot to South Africa the moment I sat down to think what I was going to write, what I was going to say. There was no other choice.

Wole Soyinka

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Wole Soyinka
Age: 90
Born: 1934
Born: July 13
Author
Essayist
Novelist
Philosopher
Playwright
Poet
Professor
Translator
Writer
Akinwande Oluwole Soyinka
Akinwande Oluwole Wole Soyinka
Mind
South
Think
Choice
Thinking
Choices
Moment
Sat
Write
Africa
Moments
Immediately
Writing
Shot
Going
Shots

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I consider the process of gestation just as important as when you're actually sitting down putting words to the paper.
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The media must be used effectively to reach the masses. You have to find a new language in which to address the people and demonstrate what is possible.
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I grew up with a very strong sense of what is just and what is not or, to put it this way, I grew up with a keen sense of a division, the reality of a division of perception in people's lives between those who govern and those who govern.
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African film makers are scraping by on a mere pittance.
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I grew up in an atmosphere where words were an integral part of culture.
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Don't feel that you have to tailor your literature a particular way to please any school of ideology. There will emerge in its own right, effortlessly, some kind of ideological direction which is a reflection of your thinking and you want your thinking, above all.
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I can look violence in the face and either reject or accept it.
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You go to conferences, and your fellow African intellectuals - and even heads of state - they all say: 'Nigeria is a big disappointment. It is the shame of the African continent.'
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Looking at faces of people, one gets the feeling there's a lot of work to be done.
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Books and all forms of writing are terror to those who wish to suppress the truth.
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The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.
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I tend to work best as a one-man Task Force, including even the roles of messenger, coffee maker and office cleaner.
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We live in a materialist world, and materialism appeals so strongly to humanity, no matter where.
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How do I feel when I am invited to a congregation of scientists? I feel quite at home. When they break into their cultic scientific argot, I know when I'm not wanted and step out for a drink.
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There is not a special imposition on writers to be activists. All that does is encourage writers to write propaganda.
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For many playwrights, they write the plays anyway because they've got to be, the work has been started, it's got to be finished, but we all long, I think, to see the plays fleshed out on stage and I'm exactly like that. Yes, I'm not satisfied until I actually see it on stage.
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No man beholds his mother's womb Yet who denies it's there? Coiled To the navel of the world is that Endless cord that links us all To the great Origin. If I lose my way. The trailing cord will bring me to the roots.
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You accept whoever you are interacting with, directly, or indirectly.
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Well, first of all I'll say that I come alive best in theater.
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Given the scale of trauma caused by the genocide, Rwanda has indicated that however thin the hope of a community can be, a hero always emerges. Although no one can dare claim that it is now a perfect state, and that no more work is needed, Rwanda has risen from the ashes as a model or truth and reconciliation.
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