Library weekly: Amos Tutuola

On 20 June 1920, Nigerian writer Amos Tutuola was born in Abeokuta. His books are partly based on Yoruba folk-tales.

When Amos was seven years old, he became a servant for F. O. Monu, an Igbo man, who sent him to the Salvation Army primary school in lieu of wages. At age of 12, he attended the Anglican Central School in Abeokuta. When his father died in 1939, Tutuola left school to train as a blacksmith, the trade he practised from 1942 to 1945 for the Royal Air Force in Nigeria during WWII. He subsequently tried a number of other vocations, including selling bread and acting as messenger for the Nigerian Department of Labour. In 1946, Tutuola completed his first full-length book, 'The Palm-Wine Drinkard', within a few days. Read more