Chinua Achebe

On 16 November 1930, Nigerian novelist, poet and university teacher Chinua Achebe was born in Ogidi, Nigeria. His first novel and magnum opus, Things Fall Apart (1958), occupies a pivotal place in African literature and remains the most widely studied, translated and read African novel. Along with Things Fall Apart, his No Longer at Ease (1960) and Arrow of God (1964) complete the so called "African Trilogy"; later novels include A Man of the People (1966) and Anthills of the Savannah (1987). He is often referred to as the "father of African literature", although he vigorously rejected the characterization.

Achebe's childhood was influenced by Igbo traditional culture and postcolonial Christianity. He excelled in school and attended what is now the University of Ibadan, where he became fiercely critical of how European literature depicted Africa. Moving to Lagos after graduation, he worked for the Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBS) and garnered international attention for his 1958 novel Things Fall Apart. In less than 10 years he would publish four further novels through Heinemann, with whom he began the Heinemann African Writers Series and galvanized the careers of African writers, such as Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o and Flora Nwapa. Achebe sought to escape the colonial perspective that predominated African literature, and drew from the traditions of the Igbo people, Christian influences, and the clash of Western and African values to create a uniquely African voice. He wrote in and defended the use of English, describing it as a means to reach a broad audience, particularly readers of previously colonial nations. In 1975 he gave a controversial lecture, "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness", which was a landmark in postcolonial discourse. Subsequently published in The Massachusetts Review, it featured criticism of Albert Schweitzer and Joseph Conrad, who Achebe described as "a thoroughgoing racist."

When the region of Biafra broke away from Nigeria in 1967, Achebe became a supporter of Biafran independence and acted as ambassador for the people of the new nation. The subsequent Nigerian Civil War ravaged the populace, and he appealed to the people of Europe and the Americas for aid. When the Nigerian government retook the region in 1970, he involved himself in political parties but soon became disillusioned by his frustration over the continuous corruption and elitism he witnessed. He lived in the United States for several years in the 1970s, and returned to the US in 1990, after a car crash left him partially disabled. Upon Achebe's return to the United States in 1990, he began a nineteen-year tenure at Bard College as a Professor of Languages and Literature. Winning the 2007 Man Booker International Prize, from 2009 until his death in 2013 he was Professor of African Studies at Brown University. Achebe died after a short illness on 21 March 2013 in Boston.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Selected publications

About Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe : the man and his works / Rose Uregbulam Mezu. - London: Adonis & Abbey Publ., 2006

Chinua Achebe : teacher of light : a biography / Tijan M. Sallah; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. - Trenton, NJ : Africa World Press, 2003

The Chinua Achebe encyclopedia / Keith M. Booker. - Westport, CT [etc.] : Greenwood Press, 2003

Chinua Achebe : pure and simple : an oral biography / Phanuel Akubueze Egejuru. - [Ikeja] : Malthouse Press, 2001

Conversations with Chinua Achebe/ Benth Lindfors. - Jackson, Miss. [etc.] : University Press of Mississippi, cop. 1997

By Chinua Achebe

There was a country : a personal history of Biafra / Chinua Achebe. - London : Allen Lane, 2012

Anthills of the Savannah / Chinua Achebe. - London [etc.] : Heinemann, 1987

An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness / Chinua Achebe.
In: Hopes and impediments : selected essays, 1965-1987  / Chinua Achebe. - London [etc.] : Heinemann, 1988

Beware soul-brother, and other poems / Chinua Achebe. - Enugu [Nigeria] : Nwankwo-Ifejika, [c1971]

Things fall apart  / Chinua Achebe. - Londen [etc.] : Heinemann , [1962]

Chinua Achebe in African Writers of Today 4, 1964
Author Chinua Achebe is interviewed by Lewis Nkosi and Wole Soyinka on his two novels "Things Fall Apart " and "No Longer At Ease".

Timeline of 20th-century Nigerian novelists via Wikidata and DBpedia