Wole Soyinka said, “I don’t need religion.”

The Nobel Prize-winning novelist Wole Soyinka has stated that he does not require religion and does not worship any gods, stating that he does not practice any religion and is not a follower of any religion, including Christianity, Islam, or Orisa.

At a public presentation of his two-volume collection of essays on Sunday, Soyinka made this revelation and said he saw nothing wrong with embracing mythology as an integral part of his creative process.

As a mythologist, he added, people have the freedom to fabricate stories about themselves based on their personal experiences.

Is religion truly necessary for me? I’ve never believed I need one. I study mythology.

However, religion? I don’t worship any gods, sorry. However, I view deities as artistically real and, as a result, as my travelling companions in both the actual and the imagined worlds,” he remarked.

The Nobel Prize winner continued by saying that he thought individuals had a right and couldn’t help but make up stories about themselves.