Soyinka to Deliver ‘Rights of Humanity’ Lecture at Rice

CONTACT: Mike Cinelli

PHONE: (713)
831-4794

E-MAIL: mcinelli@rice.edu

SOYINKA TO DELIVER ‘RIGHTS OF HUMANITY’ LECTURE AT RICE

Commenting on “Cultural Claims and
the Rights of Humanity,” Wole Soyinka will kick off the 1998-99 President’s
Lecture Series at 8 p.m. Sept. 22 in the Grand Hall of Rice Memorial
Center.

Soyinka was the first African to receive the Nobel Prize in
literature, and his international education, political activism and personal
experiences are poignantly reflected in his lectures, poetry, plays and novels.
Nigerian Soyinka follows the African cultural and artistic tradition of
recording the mores and experience of his society.

“Wole Soyinka was almost alone among the leading intellectuals
of the world who stood up and condemned the death sentence issued by the Iranian
government on Salman Rushdie [for his book ‘The Satanic Verses’],” said Rice
President Malcolm Gillis. “He is a gifted, versatile artist, a world
treasure.”

Before completing a bachelor’s degree at England’s University
of Leeds, Soyinka attended the University of Ibadan. Soyinka is the Robert W.
Woodruff Professor of the Arts at Emory University.

Rice University is a leading American research
university–small, private, and highly selective–distinguished by its superior
teaching, commitment to undergraduate education, outstanding graduate and
professional programs, residential college system, collaborative and
interdisciplinary culture, and global perspective.

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