Zulu Sofola was born in 1935, in Issele-Uku, Delta State, Nigeria. After graduating from Virginia Union University, with a B.A. in English, she received her M.A. in drama from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. She completed her Ph.D in Theatre Arts from the University of Ibadan in 1977. Sofola, became the first female Nigerian playwright and dramatist and one of the most prolific writers on the African continent.