Amos Tutuola
, 1920 - 1997
Amos Tutuola was born in the year 1920 in Abeokuta, the present capital of Ogun State, Nigeria. Tutuola started out in life as a servant to a businessman by the name Monu who sent him to school in place of wages for his service. Tutuola would eventually learn and become a blacksmith. He then worked for the Royal Air force between 1934 and 1939. Mr. Tutuola would also be involved in other vocations such as bread-selling and also worked as a messenger with the Nigerian Labour Department. Tutuola did not start writing until 1946 when he published The Palm-Wine Drinkard, the work which was received with skepticism and regarded as a shame to the Nigerian literature because of its poor use of Grammar. However, in spite of its flawed rendition, the work was well received with applaud in the West. Tutuola wrote many other books after the publication of The Palm-Wine Drinkard, such as My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1954), Sibi and the Satyr of the Dark Jungle (1956), The Brave African Huntress (1958), The Feather Woman of the Jungle (1962), Ajaiyi and His Inherited Poverty (1967), and Pauper, Brawler and Slanderer (1987). Tutuola did not earn so much on his publications but these shot him into the literary limelight which enabled him to work as a storekeeper with the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation in the then Oyo State of Nigeria. Amos Tutuola died in 1997 at the age of 77.
Bio prepared by Dapo Adeleke, University of Yaounde 1, dapojj@gmail.com and Divine Che Neba, Yaounde 1, nebankiwang@yahoo.com
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