President Miguel Díaz-Canel welcomed the Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, to Cuba through the social network X.

In his message, the head of state described it as an honour to welcome Soyinka back to the island «for his work, permanent commitment and transcendent political activism in favour of just causes».

Wole Soyinka is the pseudonym of Akinwande Oluwole Soyinka, playwright, poet, novelist, lecturer, critic, professor, actor, translator, politician and publisher.

He was the first African and the first black man to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, and is also known for his commitment to social justice.

During the Nigerian civil war, Soyinka advocated in his writings for a ceasefire but was arrested in 1967 on charges of conspiracy with the Biafran rebels and imprisoned in solitary confinement as a political prisoner until 1969.

He has published dramas, novels and poetry.

He is also the author of essays on the African world, Yoruba tragedy, the political aspects of language, Shakespeare’s plays, totalitarianism and forms of spirituality.