When Cyprian O. D. Ekwensi quietly passed into eternity on Sunday 4 November 2007, Nigeria, Africa and indeed the whole literary world lost a most endowed and gifted artist. Cyprian Ekwensi was one of a kind – versatile, dexterous, humorous, kind-hearted but firm and principled, affable and charitable, but strict in his ways and rarely ostentatious. He had no need to be. His death at 86 must have surprised him at the critical point of the rite of passage. Longevity is a known virtue in his lineage. He hoped he would equal or surpass his late mother's age of 101, or at the very least break even with his late father's 98 years. Even if he didn't realise it on this side of the planet, he now knows that he certainly outlived his parents, for a writer like Cyprian Ekwensi does not die. He lives eternally in his works, and they are, literally speaking, countless.

Ekwensi was a writer for all seasons and all ages. He wrote for children, adolescents, adults and the aged. He wrote for men and women. His primary goal was to amuse, to entertain, and to raise the moral questions that besiege humanity at critical periods of development. As a writer he saw himself very much as an avid photographer behind a camera, which was his greatest hobby.