Ngà ©gé wa Mirii (1951 â 2/3 May 2008) was a Kenyan-Zimbabwean playwright, social worker and teacher, most known for his play Ngaahika Ndeenda, which he co-authored with fellow Gikuyu writer Ngà ©gé wa Thiong'o. The play depicts the injustices and excesses of post-colonial Kenya, and was staged by non-intellectuals in an open-air theatre at the Kamirithu Educational and Cultural Center in Limuru.
Born in Roromo, Limuru, Kenya, Ngà ©gé wa Mirii was the second born in a family of six children born to John Mirii and Elizabeth Wanjiku. He was educated at Ngenia Secondary School and from 1972 to 1974 worked with the Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation. He obtained a diploma in Adult Education at the Institute of Adult Studies, Nairobi University, and then joined the Institute of Development Studies. While working there he became involved with peasants and workers in community development at Kamiriithu, Limuru.
In 1977, Ngà ©gé wa Mirii and Ngà ©gé wa Thiong'o co-authored a play titled Ngaahika Ndeenda (I Will Marry When I Want). Both playwrights were arrested six weeks after the play debuted, and detained in prison.
Five years later, their next play Mother Cry for Me, forced both playwrights into exile, with Ngà ©gé wa Mirii settling in Zimbabwe while Ngà ©gé wa Thiong'o fled first to Britain, and then to the United States.
In 1982, Ngà ©gé wa Mirii fled to Zimbabwe where he lived in exile. Ngà ©gé wa Mirii was joined a year later by his wife, Wairimu wa Ngà ©gé and one-year-old daughter, Elizabeth Wanjiku Ngà ©gé. He then joined Zimbabwean Foundation for Education with Production (ZIMFEP) where he worked for several years.
In Zimbabwe, he wrote extensively about the Pan-African cause. In 1985, he was awarded funding to found the Zimbabwean Association of Community Theatre. He was granted Zimbabwean citizenship shortly after.
Ngà ©gé wa Mirii was known as a supporter of Robert Mugabe and Zanu-PF.
On 3 May 2008, Ngà ©gé wa Mirii died in a car accident in Zimbabwe, after he drove into a stationary lorry nearby the suburb of Eastlea. He was 57 at the time.