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The award ceremony is scheduled to take place on February 28th.
Renowned Kenyan author will be the first African to receive the PEN/Nabokova Award come February 28th. Described as the “Oscars for books” the event will be hosted by Lat NIght Host and comedian Seth Meyers in New York.
Ngugi will be honoured in the PEN’s career-achievement category and will take home the $50,000 PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature.
In a statement released to the press, PEN America President Ayad Akhtar clled Thiong’o a “trailblazer and “extraordinary commentator of our times, and of the enduring poignancies of the human condition.”
The 84-year-old author was named as the recipient of the award by judges David Treuer, Laila Lalami, and Mónica de la Torre. The judges said of him, “his refusal to be silenced and his insistence on the value of indigenous languages has inspired a generation of younger writers.”
Ngugi wa Thiong’o has been a perennial Nobel Peace Prize contender and has written numerous works including plays, memoirs and novels.
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