Cyprian Ekwensi wrote hundreds of short stories, radio and television scripts, and several dozen novels, including children’s books. His 1954 People of the City was the first book by a Nigerian to garner international attention. His most successful novel was Jagua Nana (1961), about a Pidgin-speaking Nigerian woman who leaves her husband to work as a prostitute in a city and falls in love with a teacher. He also wrote a sequel to this, Jagua Nana’s Daughter.
In 1968, he received the Dag Hammarskjöld International Prize in Literature. In 2006, he became a fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters.
