Avenali Lectures

The Avenali Chair is occupied for a part of each year by a distinguished visiting scholar whose work is of interest to faculty and students in a range of humanistic fields. The Avenali Lectures are made possible by the generous gift of Peter and Joan Avenali, who endowed the Avenali Chair in the Humanities in memory of family members.

Wole Soyinka, Avenali Chair in the Humanities 2009-2010

"Rights and Relativity: The Interplay of Cultures"
Monday, February 1, 2010
7:30 pm | Wheeler Auditorium

Follow-up panel discussion with Wole Soyinka
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
4:00 pm | Maude Fife Room, 315 Wheeler Hall

All events are free and open to the public.

Playwright and dramatist, poet and essayist, Wole Soyinka is the author of over thirty books. He was also the first African to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986. Soyinka has been an outspoken critic of many Nigerian military dictators and of political tyrannies worldwide, including the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe. He has been imprisoned several times for his criticism of the government, and has lived in exile at various points during his life. A consistently courageous voice for human rights worldwide, Soyinka is involved in numerous international artistic and human rights organizations, including the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and the International Parliament of Writers.

Click here for more information about Wole Soyinka.