Cyprian Ekwensi

Cyprian Ekwensi was a Nigerian author of novels, short stories, and children's books. He was born in Minna, Niger State, to an Igbo father and a Nupe mother. He attended Government College in Ibadan, Achimota College in Ghana, and the School of Forestry in Ibadan. He also studied pharmacy at Yaba Technical Institute, Lagos School of Pharmacy, and the Chelsea School of Pharmacy of the University of London. He worked as a pharmacist, a teacher, a broadcaster, and a civil servant. He was involved in the Nigerian Civil War as the head of the Bureau for External Publicity of Biafra. He wrote hundreds of stories, scripts, and novels, many of which depict the urban life and culture of Nigeria. His most famous novel is Jagua Nana, which tells the story of a prostitute who falls in love with a teacher. He also wrote a sequel to this, Jagua Nana's Daughter. He received the Dag Hammarskjöld's International Prize in Literature in 1968 and was made a Member of the Order of the Federal Republic in 2001. He died in 2007 at the age of 86 after undergoing surgery. He is regarded as one of the pioneers of modern Nigerian literature.