Ngugi wa Thiong’o: I won the Premi International Prize while on a hospital bed, had written a will

Novelist Ngugi wa Thiong'o. [Standard]

On Thursday the globally-renowned Kenyan novelist Prof Ngugi wa Thiong'o was awarded The Premi  Internacional Prize by the President of Catalonia, Spain, for his writings and bravery.  Below, the acceptance speech he dedicated to his mother Wanjiku.

The President of Catalonia and all guests present:

The Premi Internacional Prize has touched my heart in special ways. When I received the news in December 2019, I was lying on a hospital bed at UC Medical Center, feeling completely helpless because I had just undergone a heart surgery: a triple by-pass. Before the surgery, I had already written my will. So when I received the news of the award, I felt as if I was being met with ululations of a welcome back home from the land of the Dead. Tears of gratitude and joy welled up in my eyes.