There was a writer named: Chinua Achebe, who in the company of his books, I felt the prison walls at Robben Island fall down.”— Nelson R. Mandela, 2013. 🇿🇦
Chinua Achebe is most famous for his novel Things Fall Apart, published in 1958, which tells the story of an Igbo village’s reaction to British missionaries and colonial authorities. … He also published several other novels, short stories, children’s books, and essays.
Achebe’s primary purpose of writing the novel(Things Fall Apart)is because he wants to educate his readers about the value of his culture as an African. Things Fall Apart provides readers with an insight of Igbo society right before the white missionaries’ invasion on their land.
In 1958 he published Things Fall Apart, his groundbreaking novel brought him worldwide attention. It has since become one of the most widely read books in modern African literature. Later novels include No Longer at Ease, Arrow of God, and Anthills of the Savannah. In 1967, Achebe co-founded a publishing company. Achebe lectured at universities in the United States and returned to become a research fellow and later professor of English at the University of Nigeria.
He also served as a director for two Nigerian publishers. In 1990, following a serious car accident, Achebe moved to the United States. He taught at Bard College and Brown University. In addition to his novels, Achebe wrote poetry, short stories, and a children’s book. Achebe was the recipient of dozens of honorary degrees from universities. Among other honors, he was awarded the Man Booker International Prize, the Dorothy and Lilian Gish Prize, and the Commonwealth Poetry Prize.