Editing Wole Soyinka (section)

===Writing and publishing===
[[File:Royal Court theater, Sloane Square Chelsea London UK 2020.jpg|thumb|The [[Royal Court Theatre]] in 2020. Most Soyinka's early plays were performed in the theatre.]]
Soyinka remained in [[Leeds]] working for his MA degree.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Wole Soyinka |first=James |last=Gibbs |publisher=Macmillan |year=1986 |isbn=9780333305287 |location=Basingstoke |page=3}}</ref> He wrote and published his first play ''The Swamp Dwellers'' in 1958. A year later, he published another play ''[[The Lion and the Jewel]]''. The play is a comedy and because it attracted interest from many members of London's [[Royal Court Theatre]], Soyinka had to move to [[London]]. He worked as a play reader for the Royal Court Theatre. During that period, his two plays were performed in [[Ibadan]], Nigeria since they explored the difficult relationship between progress and tradition in Nigeria.<ref>[http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/s/wole_soyinka/index.html "Wole Soyinka"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', 22 July 2009.</ref> In 1957, his play ''The Invention'' was produced at the Royal Court Theatre, and was his first work to achieve that fame.<ref>{{Cite book |title=African Biography |publisher=Gale |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-7876-2823-9 |location=Detroit, MI |publication-date=2 December 2006 |chapter=Wole Soyinka}}</ref> He wrote poems including "The Immigrant" and "My Next Door Neighbour", which appeared in ''[[Black Orpheus (magazine)|Black Orpheus]]''. Soyinka returned to Nigeria after he received a [[Rockefeller Foundation|Rockefeller Research Fellowship]] for his research on African theatre. In November 1959, he replaced [[Janheinz Jahn]] as the co-editor of ''Black Orpheus'' as well as produced ''[[The Trials of Brother Jero]]'', which premiered in the Mellanby Hall residence of University College Ibadan, in April 1960.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/trials-brother-jero |title=The Trials Of Brother Jero |website=Encyclopedia.com |first=Alan |last=Jacobs |access-date=28 September 2021}}</ref> In the same year, his work ''A Dance of The Forest'', became the official play for the [[History of Nigeria#Independence|Nigerian Independence Day]] and on 1 October 1960, it premiered in Lagos.

Soyinka wrote his first full-length play entitled ''My Father's Burden''. It was directed by [[Olusegun Olusola]] and featured on [[Western Nigeria Television]] on 6 August 1960.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.premiumtimesng.com/entertainment/146108-essential-soyinka-timeline-uzor-maxim-uzoatu.html |first=Uzor Maxim |last=Uzoatu |title=The Essential Soyinka Timeline |work=Premium Times |date=5 October 2013 |access-date=10 September 2019}}</ref> With the [[Rockefeller grant]], Soyinka bought a [[Land Rover]], and he began travelling throughout Nigeria as a researcher from the English Language department of the University College Ibadan. In a 1960 essay by Soyinka, he criticised [[Leopold Senghor]]'s [[Négritude]] movement as "a nostalgic and indiscriminate glorification of [[black African]]'s past that ignores the potential benefits of modernisation". He wrote essays that defended Nigerian literacy, among them, "Death and the King's Horsemen",<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/standard-entertainment/article/2000086475/soyinkas-grumpy-battles-to-defend-literary-legacy |title=Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka's grumpy battles to defend literary legacy |first=Zakayo |last=Amayi |date=22 June 2013 |access-date=28 September 2021}}</ref> and "Towards a True Theater" (1962), which was published by ''[[Transition Magazine]]''. 

A lecturer at [[Obafemi Awolowo University]] in [[Ifẹ]], Soyinka discussed current affairs with [[Negrophilia|negrophiles]] and on several occasions, openly condemned government censorship. At the end of 1963, his first feature-length movie, ''Culture in Transition'', was released. In 1965 his book, ''The Interpreters'', was published in London by [[André Deutsch]]. Along other professionals, Soyinka founded the [[Drama Association of Nigeria]]. In 1964 he resigned from his university post, as a protest against imposed pro-government behaviour by the authorities. In 1965, he was arrested for the first time, charged with holding up a radio station at gunpoint, which he would later write on in his 2006 memoir, ''You Must Set Forth at Dawn'', and replacing the tape of a recorded speech by the premier of [[Western Region, Nigeria|Western Region]] with a different tape containing accusations of electoral malpractice. He was released after some months of confinement, as a result of protests by the international community of writers. In the same year he wrote two more dramatic pieces; ''Before the Blackout'' and ''Kongi's Harvest.'' He also wrote ''The Detainee'', a radio play for BBC in London. His play ''The Road'' premiered in London at the [[Commonwealth Arts Festival]] on 14 September 1965, at the [[Theatre Royal Stratford East]]. Soyinka was promoted to senior lecturer in the department of English language of the [[University of Lagos]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ezugwu |first=Obinna |title=Salute To Kongi At 87 - Business Hallmark |url=https://hallmarknews.com/salute-to-kongi-at-87/ |access-date=13 August 2022 |website=hallmarknews.com |date=19 July 2021 |language=en-US}}</ref>