Born in Nigeria in 1934, Wole Soyinka is an author, playwright, poet and political activist. His prolific body of work includes debut novel The Interpreters and play Death and the King's Horseman. Soyinka fought in the Nigerian war of independence and has subsequently been one of greatest critics of the Nigerian government. Twice jailed, he wrote part of his memoir on toilet paper in solitary confinement. A staunch critic of corrupt, authoritarian regimes everywhere, Soyinka destroyed his Green Card when Trump was elected in 2016. He is Africa's first Nobel Laureate in Literature.

Africas first Nobel Laureate in Literature returns to the novel after almost 50 years with an excoriating satire on the nature of power and an unforgettable portrait of contemporary Nigeria. Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth is at once a savagely witty whodunit, a scathing indictment of Nigerias political elite, and a provocative call to arms.

Soyinka's greatest novel ... No one else can write such a book' - Ben Okri
'A lion of African literature' - Financial Times
'Chronicles is many things at once: a caustic political satire, a murder mystery, a conspiracy story and a deeply felt lament for the spirit of a nation' - Juan Gabriel Vásquez, New York Times
To Doctor Menkas horror, some cunning entrepreneur has decided to sell body parts from his hospital for use in ritualistic practices. Already at the end of his tether from the horrors he routinely sees in surgery, he shares this latest development with his oldest college friend, bon viveur, star engineer and Yoruba royal, Duyole Pitan-Payne, who has never before met a puzzle he couldnt solve. Neither realise how close the enemy is, nor how powerful.
Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth is at once a savagely witty whodunit, a scathing indictment of Nigerias political elite, and a provocative call to arms from one of the countrys most relentless political activists and an international literary giant.
'A high-jinks state-of-the-nation novel' - Chibundu Onuzo
'Chronicles is a good model for what the political novel should be: fearless, disdaining formal constraints, sparing no one' - Guardian