Decolonizing Language and Other Revolutionary Ideas
  • Published: 18 November 2025
  • ISBN: 9780241780978
  • Imprint: Allen Lane
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 224
  • RRP: $50.00

Decolonizing Language and Other Revolutionary Ideas

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Hardback
18 Nov 2025
EBook
21 Aug 2025
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A new collection of literary criticism and brilliant insights from one of the giants of contemporary thinking

Who owns language? In Decolonizing Language and Other Revolutionary Ideas, Ngugi wa Thiong’o presents a series of essays that build on his vast wealth of work on language and its constructive role in national culture, history, and identity. Intricate, nuanced and accessible, it reaffirms the revolutionary power of African languages to fight back against both the psychic and material impacts of colonialism, past and present.

With immense relevance to our present moment, Decolonizing Language and Other Revolutionary Ideas is a brilliant distillation of the enduring themes of Ngugi’s work and a vital addition to the library of one of the world’s greatest and most provocative writers.
  • Published: 18 November 2025
  • ISBN: 9780241780978
  • Imprint: Allen Lane
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 224
  • RRP: $50.00
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About the author

Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Ngugi wa Thiong’o is one of the leading writers and scholars at work in the world today. His books include the novels Petals of Blood, for which he was imprisoned by the Kenyan government in 1977, A Grain of Wheat and Wizard of the Crow; the memoirs, Dreams in a Time of War, In the House of the Interpreter and Birth of a Dream Weaver; and the essays, Decolonizing the Mind, Something Torn and New and Globalectics. Recipient of many honours, among them ten honorary doctorates, he is currently Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Irvine.

portrait photo of Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Also by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Petals of Blood
Devil on the Cross
A Grain of Wheat
The Perfect Nine
Secret Lives & Other Stories
Wrestling with the Devil
Birth of a Dream Weaver
See all

Praise for Decolonizing Language and Other Revolutionary Ideas

A giant of African writing

Guardian

One of Africa's greatest writers

New York Times

A visionary writer

Daily Telegraph

Ngugi wa Thiong’o is a revolutionary

Paris Review

One of the greatest writers of our time

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

One of Kenya's greatest storytellers

Financial Times

Ngugi is the most celebrated of African novelists. What he offers is nothing less than a new direction for African writing

British Book News

Generations of readers learned about the urgency of decolonizing language and culture from Ngugi wa Thiong'o. It is a great gift to have his incisive thinking on the subject gathered together in this book

Elleke Boehmer