Throughout his life, the Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong'o advocated for the African continent and his home country to free itself from Western cultural dominance. Baptized James Ngugi, he was born on January 5, 1938, in the central Kenyan region of Limuru. He died Wednesday at the age of 87.

"It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our dad, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, this Wednesday morning," Wanjiku wa Ngugi wrote. "He lived a full life, fought a good fight," she added.

Ngugi studied at the renowned Makerere College (now Makerere University) in Kampala, Uganda, in the early 1960s and the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom.

By the age of 30, he had established a writing career, making literary history in the process.

Ngugi's drama "The Black Hermit" was performed during Uganda's 1962 independence celebrations. His 1964 work "Weep Not, Child" was the first published novel from East Africa. More English language novels would follow.

After Ngugi's time in the United Kingdom, he renounced Christianity and shed his Christian name, because he believed it was a sign of Anglo-American neocolonialism.

He took the name Ngugi wa Thiong'o in 1967, the same year he began teaching English literature at the University of Nairobi.

A key moment in Ngugi wa Thiong'o's life came in 1977 when he was asked to write a play with fellow writer Ngugi wa Mirii for a theater near Kenya's capital, Nairobi. The pair

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