Irvine, Calif., Dec. 19, 2002 -- UC Irvine Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature Ngugi wa Thiong'o has been honored with the Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Cabinet.

The medal, signed by Mikhail Gorbachev, was awarded by the International Scientific Committee of the Pio Manzú International Research Center in Italy, a non-governmental organization affiliated with the United Nations. Ngugi was honored for his "uncompromising efforts to assert the values implicit in multicultural approaches, embracing the experience and aspiration of all the world's minorities."

A novelist, playwright and essayist, Ngugi is one of Africa's most accomplished and prominent writers. His work has been translated into more than 30 languages. He came to UCI's School of Humanities from New York University in July as director of the International Center for Writing and Translation. Ngugi received the medal during the 28th Pio Manzu International Conference in Rimini, Italy, this past fall.

"The special impact of the work of Ngugi wa Thiong'o, one of Africa's leading writers and intellectuals, is characterized by what he perceives as the force and narrative vitality of his native tongue, Gikuyu, and of all the marginalized languages of Africa and the world," according to the award description. "This relationship to one's native language is, for Ngugi, the most truly authentic expression not only of his roots as a man, but of the tradition to which he belongs, that of the African people of Kenya.

"Thus, not only for African literature but for all literature written in the native languages of the so-called 'Third World,' Ngugi wa Thiong'o emerges as the most audacious theoretician of a demand for freedom and respect of diversity. Not surprisingly, his call for decolonising the mind has been echoed in many struggling tongues and cultures."

Other award recipients included David Grossman, Wole Soyinka, Sister M. Nirmala Joshi and Aung San Suu Kyi.

For more information on the International Center for Writing and Translation, please visit, www.hnet.uci.edu/icwt.