Ngugi wa Thiong’o, the Kenyan author who spent years in exile and was a passionate advocate for literature in African languages, has died at 87, the New York Times reports.

Ngugi was born in Kamirithu, Kenya, and educated at Makerere University in Uganda. He made his literary debut in 1964 with Weep Not, Child, written while he was in college; the English-language novel was inspired by the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya. The uprising was also the subject of his second novel, The River Between.

In 1977, Ngugi published the novel Petals of Blood and the play I Will Marry When I Want, the latter co-written with Ngugi wa Mirii. Both works were critical of the Kenyan government, and he was arrested and imprisoned for almost a year. After his release, he and his family moved to the United Kingdom and, later, to the United States.

After his imprisonment, he wrote all his books first in Gikuyu, his native language, and then translated them into English. Those works include the novels Devil on the Cross, Wizard of the Crow, and The Perfect Nine; the short story collection Minutes of Glory; and the memoirs Dreams in a Time of War, In the House of the Interpreter, Birth of a Dream Weaver, and Wrestling With the Devil.

Ngugi was the winner of the International Nonino Prize, the Park Kyong-ni Prize, and the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature. He was frequently mentioned as a possible winner of the Nobel Prize in literature.

Ngugi’s admirers paid tribute to him on social media. On the platform X, his son Mukoma Wa Ngugi posted, “It tears my heart to say that my father, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o passed away earlier today. I am me because of him in so many ways, as his child, scholar and writer. I love him—I am not sure what tomorrow will bring without him here. I think that is all I have to say for now.”

And author Nnedi Okorafor wrote, “The literary giant Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (and one of my favorite authors) has passed….I’m glad I got to meet him a few times (I always encouraged him to write a science fiction novel...he said he’d consider it).”

Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.