FILE PHOTO: Kenyan author Ngugi Wa Thiong'o speaks during the launch of his new book "Wizard of the Crow" at the University of Nairobi January 15, 2007. The book, which took Wa Thiong'o more than six years to write, was released on Monday, about 20 years after his novel "Matigari". REUTERS/Antony Njuguna (KENYA)/File Photo
NAIROBI (Reuters) -Celebrated Kenyan novelist and playwright Ngugi wa Thiong'o, whose sharp criticisms of post-independence elites led to his jailing and two decade in exile, has died at the age of 87, Kenya's president said.
Shaped by an adolescence where he witnessed the armed Mau Mau struggle for independence from Britain, Thiong'o took aim in his writings at colonial rule and the Kenyan elites who inherited many of its privileges.
