Professor Wole Soyinka, a Nobel Laureate from Nigeria, received an honorary degree from the University of Cambridge, along with nine others.
The Cambridge university honorary degree is one of the most distinguished honours in the world, according to the university’s website. It is awarded to individuals “who have made extraordinary contributions in their particular professions.”
Wednesday’s ceremony was conducted at the university’s Senate House, with around 400 faculty, students, and other guests in attendance.
Lord Sainsbury of Turville, Chancellor of the university, presided over the ceremony, which was held in Latin and English.
Soyinka, who is a playwright, poet, novelist and political activist, won the prestigious Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986.
He has held visiting appointments at higher institutions in Cambridge, Legon, Atlanta, and Yale.
Recipients of this year’s University of Cambridge’s honorary degree, asides Soyinka, include Ghanian philosopher, Professor Kwame Appiah; literary scholar, Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr; developmental biologist, Professor Edith Heard; music composer, Dr Judith Weir; and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Dr Ali Smith.
Other recipients, who are all professors, include mathematical physicist, Sir Roger Penrose; developmental biologist, Elizabeth Robertson; art historian, Simon Schama; and molecular biologist, John Walker.
Soyinka is presently a Professor Emeritus of Dramatic Literature of the Obafemi Awolowo University.
