The ‘revolution’ that transformed the Department of English at the University of Nairobi was sparked by a short paper by three African staff members, among them Ngugi wa Thiong’o. They argued for its replacement by a Department of Literature centring works by Africans in the first year and proceeding in the next two years through concentric circles of world literature; ‘African literature’, crucially, was construed to include oral tradition. When Ngugi published this document – which was already locally famous – it took on global cultural significance. Makerere was also reconsidering its colonial-era literature syllabus, and the new University of Dar es Salaam was developing a syllabus aligned with the country’s socialist values. All three countries were nation-building in a highly politicised environment that problematised the free expression of ideas advocated by the literature revolutionaries. At Nairobi, a path towards the revolution had been opened by the expatriate department head, and the revolution itself was shepherded by his expatriate successor. Although success seemed inevitable when Ngugi became department chair in 1973, President Jomo Kenyatta and his allies felt threatened by the spread of ideas, and the government’s suppression ultimately drove him into lifelong exile. His call for ‘decolonising’ the African mind still rings out, not yet achieved.