A dazzling memoir of an African childhood from Nobel Prize-winning Nigerian novelist, playwright, and poet Wole Soyinka.

gives us the story of Soyinka's boyhood before and during World War II in a Yoruba village in western Nigeria called Ak. A relentlessly curious child who loved books and getting into trouble,Soyinka grew up on a parsonage compound, raised by Christian parents and by a grandfather who introduced himtoYoruba spiritual traditions. His vivid evocation of thecolorful sights, sounds, and aromas of the world that shaped him is bothlyrically beautifuland lacedwith humor and the sheer delight ofa child's-eye view.A classic of African autobiography, is also a transcendantly timelessportrait of the mysteries of childhood.