There have been great men and women Poet/Writers in Nigeria. But two in particular stand out.
One is a Nobel Laureate, the other isn't but has won many literary awards.
My best Nigerian novel of all time is Chinua Achebe's 'Things Fall Apart' and my best Nigerian poem of all time is Wole Soyinka's 'Telephone Conversation'. I can't make up my mind on who is the greatest Poet/Writer of all time. Wole Soyinka or Chinua Achebe?
Wole Soyinka
Chinua Achebe
Wole Soyinka's Works
Plays
The Swamp Dwellers
The Lion and the Jewel
The Trials of Brother Jero
A Dance of the Forests
The Strong Breed
Before the Blackout
Kongi's Harvest
The Road
The Bachaee of Euripides
Madmen and Specialists
Camwood on the Leaves
Jero's Metamorphosis
Death and the King's Horseman
Opera Wonyosi
Requiem for a Futurologist
A Play of Giants
A Scourge of Hyacinths (radio play)
From Zia, with Love
The Beatification of the Area Boy
King Baabu
Novels
The Interpreters
Season of Anomy
Aké: The Years of Childhood
Isara: A Voyage around Essay
The Man Died
Ibadan: The Penkelemes Years: a memoir 1946-65
You Must Set Forth at Dawn
Poetry collections
A Shuttle in the Crypt (original title Poems from Prison)
Idanre and other poems
Mandela's Earth and other poems
Ogun Abibiman
Samarkand and Other Markets I Have Known
Abiku
Essays
Neo-Tarzanism: The Poetics of Pseudo-Transition
Art, Dialogue, and Outrage: Essays on Literature and Culture
Myth, Literature and the African World
Movies
Culture in Transition
Blues For a Prodigal
Works by Chinua Achebe
Novels
Things Fall Apart, 1958
No Longer at Ease, 1960
Arrow of God, 1964
A Man of the People, 1966
Chike and the River, 1966
Anthills of the Savannah, 1988
Short Stories
The Sacrificial Egg and Other Stories, 1962
Girls at War and Other Stories, 1973
African Short Stories (editor, with C.L. Innes), 1985
Heinemann Book of Contemporary African Short Stories (editor, with C.L. Innes), 1992
Civil Peace
Poetry
Beware, Soul-Brother, and Other Poems, 1971 published in the US as *Christmas at Biafra, and Other Poems, 1973
Don't let him die: An anthology of memorial poems for Christopher Okigbo (editor, with Dubem Okafor), 1978
Another Africa, 1998
Collected Poems, 2004
Essays, Criticism and Political Commentary
An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness", 1975
Morning Yet on Creation Day, 1975
The Trouble With Nigeria, 1984
Hopes and Impediments, 1988
Home and Exile, 2000
Children's Books
Dead Men's Path, 1972
How the Leopard Got His Claws (with John Iroaganachi), 1972
Marriage Is A Private Affair
The Flute, 1975
The Drum, 1978
Well there you have it, works of two of Nigeria's greatest minds.
So what do you guys think? Who deserves the crown?
