Iyetade, scion of the Soyinka family, to be buried in Ibadan

Iyetade Verity Soyinka, daughter of Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, who passed on in Ibadan three days after Christmas 2013, will be buried Friday January 10 in Ibadan, after funeral services at the Chapel of Resurrection, University of Ibadan at 11a.m.” family publicist, Jahman Anikulapo, said in a statement.

She was born on June 5, 1965 and survived by two children, a daughter, Oreofe, and a son, Adeoto.

No cause of death was stated but the statement simply mentioned she died at the University Teaching Hospital, in Ibadan, after a brief illness. Iyetade’s passage had brought “great sadness and an overwhelming sense of loss” to the family said Mr. Anikulapo who remarked, in his statement, that “Ms. Iyetade Soyinka had her early education at the Staff School of the University of Ibadan and Queens School, Ibadan. She started her higher education at the University of Ibadan where she focused on science courses, but moved to England where, she chose to leave the sciences altogether and explore the world of theater arts, culture and writing.”

Mr. Anikulapo’s statement said, on her return to Nigeria, she began a vocation as “a poet and performing artiste who embraced the interior shores of life with an unusual depth of perception, courage and understanding.” The deceased’s volume of poetry, Stars, Fill My Skies, was scheduled for release at the end of 2013, he said.

Ms. Iyetade Soyinka was described as a fervent Christian who “cared deeply and generously for those shunned by society,” “scorned the vain,” “discarded hypocrisies, rejected the limelight and sought to live a life of depth and truth.” The statement described her as one who “fought fiercely for those she loved and she touched our lives with her heart, her incredibly creative mind, her dreams and her wit.”

Ms. Soyinka is survived by her father, Wole Soyinka, winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in literature, her mother, Olayide Soyinka, a former university librarian at Ogun State University, her sisters and brothers—Olaokun, Moremi, Peyibomi, Ilemakin, Morenike, Amani, Tunlewa, Bojode and Eniara—as well as numerous aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews.

The family also set up a memorial website for the deceased www.iyetade.soyinka.muchloved.com