Celebrating A Laureate: Wole Soyinka

The childhood memoir of Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, is to be adapted into a film.

The production of the memoir which is titled Ake, The Years of Childhood is being put together by a Lagos-based film production outfit, Back Page Production.  Dapo Adeniyi, the executive producer of the project, he says work will begin in June this year and shooting will take place in Lagos, Abeokuta and Ibadan.

On Friday May 31, 2012, Soyinka met with the cast and crew of the movie, where he exchanged views with the artistes on the text and the project. Ake, a personal story of Soyinkas childhood was first published in 1981, and the producers are hoping to premiere the movie in 2014 to mark the 100th anniversary of the Nigerian amalgamation and the 80th birthday celebration of the writer.