Renowned playwright, poet Prof Micere Mugo dies at 81
Renowned playwright, author, activist, instructor and poet Prof Micere Githae Mugo has died. Prof Mugo died on Friday at the age of 81.
She will be remembered as one of the foremost inspirational writers of all time who wrote from the African consciousness with profound effect.
Everything she wrote was drawn from the consciousness of their realities with a stark touch spirit of stoic determination.
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Some of her notable books include My Mother’s Poem and Other Songs and Songs and Poems. Her other publications include six books, a play co-authored with Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o and three monographs.
Prof Mugo was a political activist who fought against human rights abuses in Kenya. The activism led to her arrest and she was forced out of the country in 1982 after an attempted coup.
Prof Mugo went to Zimbabwe and continued writing. In 1991, her second work of literary criticism, African Orature and Human Rights appeared.
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She was a founder of the Pan African Community of Central New York and one of the organisation’s first presidents and was also the founder and former president of the Syracuse-based United Women of Africa Organisation.
At the National Theatre on January 10, 2023 artists, human rights and social justice activists, and feminists, gathered to present Prof Mugo with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Several leaders and public figures have eulogised and paid glowing tribute to the deceased.
Our Comrade, Sister, and Revolutionary, Professor Micere Githae Mugo has joined our ancestors some four hours ago. May she shine in the light of the ancestral abode as she shone on earth with revolutionary light. Her revolutionary Spirit LIVES💪👊
— Dr Willy M Mutunga, Chief Justice, Kenya (2011-16) (@WMutunga) June 30, 2023
Your legacy lives on Prof. Micere Mugo. Sending condolences to family and friends. Rest in power, revolutionary heroine!
📸 courtesy @alaminkimathi pic.twitter.com/JqKBuaujGK
— Dr. Roselyn Akombe (@DrRoselynAkombe) June 30, 2023
The passing on of Professor Micere Githae Mugo is a great loss to her family,friends and humanity. She was an icon of the struggle for academic freedom and civil liberties in kenya and beyond, a role model to many . It is a privilege to have known her and drank from her well of…
— Martha Karua SC (@MarthaKarua) June 30, 2023
"Say revolution. Refuse amnesia. Refuse the erasure of herstory."
"I have not mellowed. I did not mellow."
Go in power, Shujaa Micere Githae Mugo. The power of truth, justice and freedom that you demanded for all of us.@DefendersKEhttps://t.co/gIDgmX75xs
— Shailja Patel (@shailjapatel) June 30, 2023
1. I extend my heartfelt condolences to the family, relatives and friends of Prof. Micere Mugo, a distinguished professor, renowned playwright, poet and activist who will be fondly remembered for her unwavering commitment to social justice. pic.twitter.com/DscCK8lL4h
— Hon. Justice Martha K. Koome, EGH (@CJMarthaKoome) July 1, 2023
With great shock I have received the sad news of the death of Prof Micere Githae Mugo one of Africa's greatest literary giants. I had the distinct honour of being one of her literature students at Nairobi School in 1972/3 while she was on sabbatical from McGill University. May…
— Gitobu Imanyara (@GitobuImanyara) June 30, 2023