Wole Soyinka, the first African writer to be awarded the Nobel Prize for literature, will speak at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 29, at the University of California, Davis. Soyinka's lecture, free and open to the public, will be delivered in the campus's Main Theatre. Soyinka, who received the Nobel Prize in 1986, will be visiting UC Davis from Sept. 28 to Oct. 3 as a UC Regents' Professor. He will conduct two writing workshops and be available for informal conversations during his stay. A dramatist, essayist and fiction writer, Soyinka has been cited for both having produced one of the most impressive literary collections of the 20th century and serving as an advocacte on behalf of human rights. He was imprisoned and almost executed as a result of his role as an activist during the conflict in Biafra. He has continued, in both his writings and personal appearances, to speak out against political and cultural oppression. Earlier this year, he directed his play, "From Zia, with Love," in Madrid and Rome. Soyinka's visit is sponsored by the African American and African Studies program at UC Davis, with support from the Comparative Literature program and the English department.