In this moving and thought-provoking memoir, the great writer speaks of his emergence during one of Africa's most violent periods 'Exquisite in its honesty and truth and resilience, and a necessary chronicle from one of the greatest writers of our time' Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Selected as a Book of the Year 2016 in the Guardian When Ngugi wa Thiong'o arrives at the prestigious Makerere University, it embodies all the potential and excitement of the early 1960s. Campus is a haven of opportunity for the brightest African students, a meeting place for thinkers and writers from all over the world, and its alumni are filling Africa's emerging political and cultural positions. Despite the challenges he faces as a young black man in a British colony, it is here that Ngugi begins to find his voice as a playwright, journalist and novelist, writing his first, pivotal works just as the countries of East Africa enter the final stages of their independence struggles.