Sozaboy?

The word 'Sozaboy' caught my attention as I was reading Felix, the Imperial College Student newspaper, published by the IC Student Union. Turns out that Sozaboy is the title of a book, written by Ken Saro-Wiwa and published in 1995. It is a shockingly realistic novel about the madness of war from the perspective of a young, naive Nigerian army recruit during the time of the Civil War (1967-1970) in Nigeria. The special language in which the book is written - called 'Rotten English' - gives the novel, touching upon already powerful, tragic topics such as genocide, war and human rights, effective messages and an extraordinary realism.

The author Ken Saro-Wiwa was not only a writer, but intellectual and human rights activist, fighting against multinational corporations which were after the oil of the Niger Delta. He was also one of the Ogoni people, decimated by genocide, which Saro-Wiwa denounced. In November 1995, he was hanged by Nigerian authorities after having been formally accused of inciting separation and riots. Informally though, the involvement of Royal Dutch Shell in the death of Saro-Wiwa is assumed and their innocence has not been proved fully.