Chinua Achebe

Pioneered modern African literature with Things Fall Apart and was hailed as the father of modern African literature.

Life

Igbo Boy

Achebe was born in 1930 in Ogidi, in the Igbo region of southeastern Nigeria; his father was a mission teacher. He studied at University College, Ibadan, first studying medicine before switching to literature. After reading the distorted images of Africa in the works of European writers, he resolved to tell Africa's stories from Africans' own perspective. After graduating he joined the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation.

Writing Things Fall Apart

In 1958 he published the novel Things Fall Apart, which tells of the tragic fate of Okonkwo, a warrior in an Igbo village, under the impact of colonial and missionary forces. Written in English but infused with many Igbo proverbs and oral traditions, the novel was translated into dozens of languages and became one of the most widely read works of African literature. He went on to write No Longer at Ease, Arrow of God and other works, and edited the highly influential African Writers Series.

Civil War and Later Years

During the civil war he did diplomatic and propaganda work for Biafra, and after the war he taught for many years at universities in Nigeria and the United States. In 1975 he gave a lecture criticizing the racism of Conrad's Heart of Darkness, sparking wide debate in literary circles. A car accident in 1990 left him with limited mobility, but he kept writing; he won the Man Booker International Prize in 2007 and died in Boston, United States, in 2013.

Legacy

Achebe is hailed as the "father of modern African literature." Things Fall Apart retold the colonial encounter from an African perspective, breaking with European literature's stereotyped portrayals of Africa, and became one of the most widely taught African novels in the world; the African Writers Series he edited nurtured a generation of African writers. He insisted on writing in English and debated writers such as Ngugi, who advocated using indigenous languages, a discussion about the language of African literature that continues today.

Major works & achievements

• Novel Things Fall Apart
• Novels No Longer at Ease and Arrow of God
• Editor of the African Writers Series
• Lecture "An Image of Africa"
• Memoir There Was a Country

Did you know? The title Things Fall Apart is taken from a line in Yeats's poem "The Second Coming."

Key dates

• 1948Entered University College Ibadan
• 1958Published Things Fall Apart
• 1962Edited the African Writers Series
• 1964Published Arrow of God
• 1975Gave a lecture criticizing Heart of Darkness
• 2007Won the Man Booker International Prize
• 2013Died