The renowned Kenyan author, playwright and professor Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o has died at the age of 87. Over six decades, he chronicled Kenya’s transition from a British colony to independence. Thiong’o’s work landed him in jail and in exile as he wrote searing criticisms of colonial rule, as well as the emerging independent state, which he accused of benefiting elites at the expense of Kenyan society. In 2010, Democracy Now! interviewed him in our studio after he’d just released his memoir, “Dreams in a Time of War.”

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o: “In all the settler colonies, like Kenya, Nigeria — not Nigeria — Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe — Mozambique is another example, Algeria is another example — independence was won through armed struggle. In all of those, there was armed liberation movements, and the land question was at the basis of the whole struggle. So, with Kenya, we had one of the earliest anti-colonial guerrilla movements. Ours was by the name of Mau Mau.”

Click here to see our interview with him in full.