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Aké: The Years of Childhood cover

Aké: The Years of Childhood

Wole Soyinka

1

award won

5

score

#1422 of 3,809 books · #502 in Biography & Memoir

Won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award (1983).

Aké: The Years of Childhood gives us the story of Soyinka's boyhood before and during World War II in a Yoruba village in western Nigeria called Aké. A relentlessly curious child who loved books and getting into trouble, Soyinka grew up on a parsonage compound, raised by Christian parents and by a grandfather who introduced him to Yoruba spiritual traditions. His vivid evocation of the colorful sights, sounds, and aromas of the world that shaped him is both lyrically beautiful and laced with humor and the sheer delight of a child's-eye view. A classic of African autobiography, Aké is also a transcendantly timeless portrait of the mysteries of childhood.

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Publisher
Vintage
Topics
Nigerian childhoodYoruba culture and traditionColonial-era Nigeria

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