Festus Iyayi
Festus Iyayi ( born September 29, 1947 in Benin City, Nigeria, † November 12, 2013 in Kogi, Nigeria ) was a Nigerian writer.
Life
Festus Iyayi studied communications in Ibadan and Economics in Kiev. In the latter field he received his doctorate in 1980 at the University of Bradford. He returned to Benin City and taught at the local university. Because he was active in the union, he was dismissed in 1988 and imprisoned for a short time. In the same year he was for his third novel, Heroes ( 1986), which won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. Iyayi then focused mainly on his political work, to 1996, a collection of short stories appeared. His work with the realistic description of the impoverished Nigerian society is like the books of Ousmane Sembene and Ngugi wa Thiong'o.
Iyayi died in November 2013 at the age of 66 years in a car accident that may have been triggered by a vehicle from the convoy of a senior politician.
Works
- Violence ( 1979) Longman Publishing Group, ISBN 0-582-64247-7.
- The Contract (1982 ) Longman Publishing Group, ISBN 0-582-78524-3.
- Heroes ( 1986) Longman Publishing Group, ISBN 0-582-78603-7.
- Awaiting Court Martial ( 1996) Malthouse Press, ISBN 978-2601-79-9.