Britannica
Sources used in this answer
Why was Wole Soyinka imprisoned during the Nigerian civil war?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
African theatre
Wole Soyinka.
Wole Soyinka was imprisoned for 22 months during the Nigerian civil war because he spoke out against the conflict, which was triggered by the attempted secession of Biafra from Nigeria.1
His detention, which occurred between 1967 and 1969, took place without trial. Soyinka later documented his experience during this period of imprisonment in his prose work, The Man Died (1972), and wrote a significant portion of his poetry collection Poems from Prison (1969) while incarcerated.12