Chinua Achebe

Father of African Literature · Novelist · 1930–2013

The novelist whose 'Things Fall Apart' gave the Igbo world its own voice and answered the colonial stories Europe told about Africa — the father of modern African literature.

Who was Achebe?

Chinua Achebe was born in Ogidi, in colonial Nigeria, raised between Igbo tradition and a Christian, English-language schooling. In 1958 he published 'Things Fall Apart' — the story of Okonkwo, a proud Igbo man, and the disintegration of his world as British missionaries and administrators arrive. Taking his title from Yeats, he wrote from the inside a civilisation that colonial literature had painted as savage or empty, refusing both nostalgia and apology. He continued with 'No Longer at Ease' and 'Arrow of God', and in a famous essay charged Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness' with dehumanising Africa. He lived through the Biafran war, argued that the storyteller shapes how a people is seen, and became a towering figure and conscience of African letters.

Major achievements

• Wrote 'Things Fall Apart', the most widely read African novel
• Portrayed pre-colonial Igbo society from within, with its order, art and flaws
• Wrote the 'African Trilogy' and influential essays and poetry
• Critiqued colonial representation, notably Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness'
• Championed African writing and mentored a generation of authors

Life in brief

• 1930 — Born in Ogidi: In colonial Nigeria, between two worlds.
• 1958 — Things Fall Apart: His first and most famous novel.
• 1960 — No Longer at Ease: Continues the story into independence.
• 1964 — Arrow of God: Completes the African Trilogy.
• 1967 — Biafran war: He serves the Biafran cause; Okigbo is killed.
• 1975 — 'An Image of Africa': His indictment of Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness'.
• 2013 — Dies: Honoured as a father of African literature.

Explore the life of Achebe — five chapters

1. At the Crossroads — A catechist's son among ancestral shrines
2. Things Fall Apart — A society described from inside, then dismantled
3. Biafra — A war, a blockade, and the friend who was killed
4. An Image of Africa — Calling Conrad a racist, in 1975
5. The Trouble with Nigeria — A wheelchair, two refused honours, and a last book about Biafra

Read the five-chapter life of Chinua Achebe →

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