Film Adaptation of Wole Soyinka’s ‘The Man Died’ Set for Release in July 

The Man Died, one of Nigerian author Wole Soyinka’s best-known writings, will be adapted into a movie starring Nollywood veteran Wale Ojo as the renowned writer.

The memoir details Soyinka’s deepest feelings during the late 1960s Nigerian Civil War, when he was detained by the government as a political prisoner.

On Thursday, May 2, Awam Amkpa, the director of the adaption, revealed on Instagram that the movie will be out in July 2024.

Two years following the end of the war, in 1972, Soyinka wrote the autobiographical work. Being the first Sub-Saharan African to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986, he created history.

Last July, on Soyinka’s 89th birthday, Ojo praised the playwright, calling him “a rare icon.”

“Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka is 89 years old today. Love him OR hate him HE has earned his place amongst the G. O. A. T. of this universe!” the 55-year-old posted on Instagram.

The film adaptation of The Man Died features Nollywood stars Chidi Mokeme, Sam Dede, Norbert Young, Francis Onwochei, Edmond Enabe, and Segilola Ogidan. Others are Simileoluwa Hassan, Christiana Oshunniyi, and newcomer, Abraham Amkpa.

Femi Odugbemi is the film’s producer, while Bode Asiyanbi is its writer. In July, The Man Died will be published to commemorate Soyinka’s 90th birthday.

Elesin Oba, The King’s Horseman, a 2022 Netflix film starring Odunlade Adekola, Shaffy Bello, Deyemi Okanlawon, Omowunmi Dada, and Jide Kosoko, is an adaptation of the Nobel laureate’s 1975 novel Death and the King’s Horseman.

The Trials of Brother Jero (1960), Aké: The Years of Childhood (1981), The Lion and the Jewel (1959), and You Must Set Forth at Dawn (2006) are some of Soyinka’s other well-known works.