Celebrated Kenyan author Ngugi wa Thiong'o is dead.

He died at the age of 87.

The author's daughter Wanjiku wa Ngugi said in a statement on Facebook on Wednesday that her father "lived a full life, fought a good fight."

Wanjiku confirmed that Ngugi wa Thiong'o died on Wednesday morning, urging his fans worldwide to "celebrate his life and his work."

Wanjiku, who did not disclose Ngugi's cause of death or place of death, said the family spokesperson, Nducu wa Ngugi, "will announce details of his celebration of life soon."

In recent years, the literary giant struggled with kidney problems.

Since the 1970s, Ngugi mostly lived overseas, emigrating to England and eventually settling in California, the United States.

In the US, he was a Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Irvine.

Ngugi published several literary works over the past decade, including the novel "The Perfect Nine" and the prison memoir "Wrestling with the Devil."

His work spanned roughly six decades, primarily documenting the transformation of his country - Kenya - from a colonial subject to a democracy.

He was nominated several times for the Nobel Prize in Literature, but fell short of winning.