THE BIOGRAPHY OF

CHINUA ACHEBE

Born 16 November 1930 as Albert Chinualumogu Achebe. A Nigerian novelist, poet, professor and critic best known for his novel and magnum opus, Things Fall Apart (1958), which is the most widely read book in modern African literatureRaised by his parents in the Igbo town of Ogidi in southeaster Nigeria, Achebe excelled at school and won scholarship for undergraduate studies.Achebe has been called “ the father of modern African writing”.

After graduation, he worked for the Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBS) and soon moved to metropolis of Lagos.When the reign of Biafra broke away from Nigeria in 1967, Achebe became a supporter of Biafran independence and acted as ambassador for the people of new nation Since 2009, he has been the David and Marianna Fisher Professor and Professor of African Studies at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island United States.

Achebe's parents, Isaiah Okafo Achebe and Janet Anaenechi Iloegbunam, were converts to the Protestant Church Mission Society (CMS) in Nigeria.Achebe's unabbreviated name, Chinualumogu (“May God fight on my behlaf”), was a prayer for divine protection and stability.The Achebe Family had five other surviving childern, named a similar fusion of traditional words relating to their new religion: Frank Okwuofu, John Chukweameka Ifeanyichukwu, Zinobia Uzoma, Augustine Nduka and Grace Nwanneka.

Biography

Chinua was born Albert Chinualumogu in the Igbo village of Ogidi on November 16,1930.After the youngest daughter was born, the family moved to Isaiah Achebe's ancestral town of Ogidi, in what is now the state of Anambra.His education was furthered by the collages his father hung on the walls of their home, as well as almanacs and numerous books- Including a prose adaptation of a Midsummer Night's Dream (c.1590) and an Igbo of the Pilgrim's Progress (1678).

Early Life

Education

In 1936, Achebe entered St Philips' Central SchoolOne teacher described him as the student with the best handwriting in class, and the best reading skillsModelled on the British public school, and funded by the colonial administration, Government College had been established in 1929 to educate Nigeria's future elite.Achebe was double-promoted in his first year, completing the first two year's studies in one, and spending only four years in secondary school, instead of the standard five.

University

In 1948, in preparation for independence,Nigeria's first university opened. Known as University College, (now the University of Ibadan), it was an associate college of the University of LondonWhile at the University, Achebe wrote his first short story, “In a Village Church”, which details of life in rural Nigeria with Christian institution and icons, a style which appears in many of his later works.After the final examination at Ibadan in 1953, Achebe was awarded a second class degree.

Since the sixties, Achebe has been doing more teaching and lecturing and less fiction writing, although he has published books for the young and has concentrated exclusively on educating them. He also wrote Anthills Of The Savannah,which was finalist for the Booker Prize in England in 1987. Much of his later writing since seventies has been wrapped up in the political turmoil of Nigeria which has undergone a series of upheavals and coup d' etats by various political fractions.

In the sixties, Achebe was targeted for persecution by one of the non-Igbo lead governments as a dissident and so he fled with his family to Eastern, Nigeria which had declared itself and independent state called Biafra. After a bloody civil war, Biafra was defeated and Achebe exiled himself to Europe and then America.

Achebe has received many honours, and his fame has spread not only in Africa but all over common wealth, Europe and America. He had been made a Fellow of the modern languages Association of U.S.A. and has been awarded Honorary Doctorates by the Universities of Sterling and Southampton. He also won the coveted Neil Gunn Fellowship awarded by the

Scottish Arts Council.He died on March 21, 2013, at age 82, in Boston, Massachusetts.

Themesl Achebe's novels approach a variety of themes. In his

early writing depiction of Igbo culture itself is paramount.

l Culture and Colonialism - A prevalent theme in Achebe's novels is the intersection of African tradition (particularly Igbo varieties) and modernity, especially as embodied by European colonialism. E.g. The Village of Umuofia in Things Fall Apart, is violently shaken with internal division when the white Christian missionaries arrive.

l Masculinity and femininity - gender roles of men and women, as well as societies conception of the associated concepts, are frequent themes in Achebe's writing.

List Of Works●Novels l Things Fall Apart (1958)l No Longer at Ease (1960)l Arrow of God (1964)l Anthills of the Savannah (1987)●Short Storiesl Marriage Is A private Affair (1952)l Dead Men's Path (1953)l Civil Peace (1971)

l Poetryl Another Africa (1998)l Refugee Mother and Childl Vulturesl Essay, Criticis, non-fiction and

political commentaryl The Novelist as Teacher (1965)l Children Booksl The Flute (1975)l Chike and the River (1966)

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