Inside Wole Soyinka’s Abeokuta Forest House

Today we take you on a visual journey into the home of one of the finest writers of African descent, 1986 Nobel Prize winner for Literature, Wole Soyinka. Deeply nestled in the inner folds of the ever ancient Abeokuta, the Nobel Laurates forest home is an avalanche of artifacts from the writer’s collection. Come along as we take you Inside Wole Soyinka’s Abeokuta Forest House.

First documented by writer, Kola Tunbosun in his Creative Non-fiction piece- A House for Mr Soyinka” which was published on Popula, Tunbosun describes the house saying- “The house sits tucked away behind a thick forest, from the road you would never know a house lay behind it. There is no visible fence, just a thicket disguising the entrance.”

He goes on to give more vivid description of the Professor of Literature’s forest home. “Made of red brick, the house is fitted, on one side, with big slanted glass windows that let in sunlight and breeze while giving the resident a good view of the grounds. A small stream runs across the grounds, through a small bush that hides a deceptive marshland, under a culvert, and into the bush on the other side of the property towards a new public amphitheater”

Inside Wole Soyinka’s Abeokuta Forest House

A strikingly distinct feature of the property as described in Tunbosun’s piece, is its distance from the populated part of town, which surprisingly is a delight for Soyinka- “And if its locaton deep in the bush inconvenienced his visitors, he clearly delighted in their discomfort.” says Tunbosun.

So deeply nestled in the thick of the forest is the residence that Tunbosun recounted an incidence as narrated by the Nobel Laureate “As we drove, a spot on the road reminded him of a time when a group of labourers had been commissioned to come to the property in those early days, but had developed cold feet halfway into the bush. The location must have seemed so ridiculously far from civilization that the workers had begun making up stories in their heads about what was about to happen to them; when one of the workers cajoled the driver to stop, to allow him relieve his bladder by the roadside, the men seized the golden opportunity and fled in all directions, as soon as the truck stopped.”

The four and half acres wide property is largely covered by forest reserves, save for the living area on one end and the outdoor amphitheater on the other. The amphitheater is managed by the International Cultural Exchange. According to Mr Teju Kareem, manager of the amphitheater, there are plans to make the residence a tourist destination in the future- “We also intend to make it a tourist destination. It will also serve as a literacy and academic resource.”

The interior of the residence is laden with an array of ancient pieces of art collected by Soyinka over the course of the years, some, gifted. “On almost every available space around his living room stood a piece of art; ancient bronze heads from Ife, life-sized bronze leopards from Benin and many more, including a carved door from Cameroon.” Says Tunosun.