Sir Ben Okri says to be honoured means helping the human race to be better and more civilised after being made a Knight Bachelor. <\/p>\n
The renowned Nigerian-born writer and cultural activist, considered to be one of the foremost African authors in the post-modern and post-colonial traditions, said he was delighted by the honour. <\/p>\n
His best-known work includes The Famished Road novel trilogy, the first of which The Famished Road won the Booker Prize in 1991. <\/p>\n
Sir Ben has been made Knight Bachelor in the Kings Birthday honours for services to literature, having previously been made OBE in 2001. <\/p>\n
Im delighted to be given this honour. I think of the illustrious writers who have preceded me and the gifted writers to come, he said, in a statement shared with the PA news agency. <\/p>\n
The writer does not write for honours but for truth, the mysterious truth of the human condition. <\/p>\n
For me the main value of this honour at this moment is necessity to remind my fellow human beings that we are living on the cusp of a world wide environmental crisis. <\/p>\n
If we dont do something radical about it now, within ten years nothing will be the same. <\/p>\n
Art is a reminder that the human destiny has to go upwards. This is the moment to reverse our backward thinking and create a new future. <\/p>\n
If being honoured means anything it means helping the human race to be better, more civilised, more beautiful. <\/p>\n
Sir Ben was born in Nigeria and came to England as a child, growing up in London, but later returned to his home country with his parents on the eve of the Nigerian Civil War which had a defining impact on his life. <\/p>\n
Originally set for a career as a scientist, he found his true vocation in writing and began producing poetry and articles about the living conditions in the slums of Lagos. <\/p>\n
He then turned his hand to short stories and eventually what was to become his first novel, Flowers And Shadows in 1980, two years after he returned to London. <\/p>\n
Over the next decade, despite a period of homelessness, he wrote a second novel and two collections of short stories. <\/p>\n
His most well-known and successful novel, The Famished Road, was published in 1991 and was awarded the prestigious Booker Prize. <\/p>\n
The book was the first Booker Prize winner to go straight to number one in the paperback bestseller lists and has been highly influential in the decades since its release. <\/p>\n
The Famished Road is the first book in The Famished Road Trilogy, which also includes Songs of Enchantment and Infinite Riches. <\/p>\n
Despite his success as a novelist, Sir Ben thinks of himself primarily as a poet having produced multiple collections. <\/p>\n
In 2009 he invented a new form called a Stoku, a cross between a short story and Haiku, which first displayed in his book Tales of Freedom, now re-titled The Comic Destiny. <\/p>\n
Sir Ben is also an influential essayist and has written multiple film scripts and plays. <\/p>\n
He was a Fellow Commoner in creative arts at Trinity College, Cambridge from 2001 to 2003 and is an honorary Fellow at Mansfield College, Oxford. <\/p>\n
In 2019, Sir Bens novel Astonishing the Gods, first published in 1995, was selected as one of the BBCs 100 novels that shaped our world. <\/p>\n
Other writers to be recognised on the Kings birthday honours list include William Dalrymple and Sally Magnusson. <\/p>\n
Historian, author and art curator Dalrymple was made CBE for services to literature and the arts. <\/p>\n
Broadcaster and author Magnusson was made an MBE for services to people with dementia and their carers. <\/p>\n
Get ahead of the day with the morning headlines at 7.30am and Fionnn Sheahan's exclusive take on the day's news every afternoon, with our free daily newsletter. <\/p>\n
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Read more: Sir Ben Okri says to be honoured means helping the human race to be better and more civilised after being made a Knight Bachelor. The renowned Nigerian-born writer and cultural activist, considered to be one of the foremost African authors in the post-modern and post-colonial traditions, said he was delighted by the honour Continue reading
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