The Interpreters

Nobel Prize-winner Wole Soyinka's debut novel tells the story of a group of friends facing political corruption and cultural uncertainty in post-independence Nigeria.

Friends since high school, Egbo, Bandele, Sagoe, Sekoni and Kola have returned to Lagos after studying abroad. As they navigate wild parties, affairs of the heart, philosophical debates, and professional dilemmas, they struggle to reconcile the cultural traditions and Western influences that have shaped them – and that still divide their country.

In The Interpreters, Soyinka deftly weaves memories of the past through scenes of the present as the friends move toward an uncertain future. The result is a vividly realised fictional world rendered in prose that pivots easily from satire to tragedy.

About the Author

Wole Soyinka is a playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist born in Abeokuta, Nigeria in 1934. Soyinka won the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature with his debut novel, The Interpreters, becoming the first-ever African laureate and has since won many other prizes such as the Academy of Achievement Golden Plate Award in 2009 and the Anisfield-Wolf book Award, Lifetime Achievement in 2012.

Reviews

"No other writer has Soyinka's unique positioning in the political and cultural life of his nation" —Ben Okri

"The novel is rich in well-turned individual scenes... it is a work in which the esthetic and political problems are meshed in an almost classical way" ―New York Times

"Elaborately, strikingly and indeed often beautifully written" ―The Times

Dimensions: 12.9 x 2.41 x 19.79 cm