Chinua Achebe (1930–2013)

Chinua Achebe was born in Nigeria in 1930. He was raised in the large village of Ogidi, one of the first centers of Anglican missionary work in Eastern Nigeria, and was a graduate of University College, Ibadan.

His early career in radio ended abruptly in 1966, when he left his post as Director of External Broadcasting in Nigeria during the national upheaval that led to the Biafran War. He was appointed Senior Research Fellow at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and began lecturing widely abroad.

From 1972 to 1976, and again in 1987 to 1988, Mr. Achebe was Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and also for one year at the University of Connecticut, Storrs.

Cited in the London Sunday Times as one of the "1,000 Makers of the Twentieth Century" for defining "a modern African literature that was truly African" and thereby making "a major contribution to world literature," Chinua Achebe published novels, short stories, essays and children's books. [adapted from Things Fall Apart, c1959, 1994 printing Anchor Books Ed.]

Mr. Achebe received numerous honors from around the world including more than twenty honorary doctorates from universities in England, Scotland, the United States, Canada, and Nigeria.

Latterly Mr. Achebe lived with his wife in Annandale, New York, where they both taught at Bard College. They had four children.