Achebe, Chinua: 1930 - 2013
Information about Chinua Achebe
- Biographies
Information from Britannica (High-quality, concise biography)- Information from Wikipedia (Good general overview with sections on Things Fall Apart, Achebe's life, bibliography, and references)
- Brief biography read by Garrison Keillor. Can be used as listening comprehension exercise.
- TranscriptIt's the birthday of the author Chinua Achebe, born in Ogidi, Nigeria in 1930. His parents were evangelical Protestants and when he went to university he gave up his birth name, Albert, and he took his Igbo middle name Chinua. He joined the Nigerian Broadcasting Service when he was 24 years old, and it was then that he wrote his first novel, Things Fall Apart.
Which is still today the most widely read book of African literature. Achebe describes himself as a cultural nationalist, but nevertheless he writes his books in English, which he has been criticized for.
He said colonialism for all of its evils at least gives diverse communities a language with which to talk to one another. And therefore they can reach people all across Nigeria, all the different small language groups.
- Transcript
- Audio (44:00)
The life and ideas of Chinua Achebe (In his own words, and in the words of those who knew, loved, and were inspired by him). BBC; June 19, 2022
- Bibliographies
- Bibliography from Goodreads (with reviews and reader discussions)
- Bibliography from AddALL
- Articles
- Was Chinua Achebe Africa's most influential author?: "People sometimes think of the books writers leave behind as their claim to immortality, but on top of his wonderful words Achebe's great legacy manifests itself in flesh and blood: writers like Adichie, Okri and Abani, whose literary imaginations he helped inspire." BBC; March 20, 2014
- A life in writing: "I feel that the English language will be able to carry the weight of my African experience. But it will have to be a new English, still in full communion with its ancestral home but altered to suit its new African surroundings." The Guardian; December 13, 2010
- Achebe had a keen grasp of how language demonstrated power: "The debate over the appropriate language choice between indigenous African languages and the languages of the former colonial masters came to a head at the Conference." The Republic; January 13, 2020
- Obituaries
- Chinua Achebe, the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University, died in Boston on Thursday evening, March 21, 2013. (Achebe joined the Brown faculty in the fall of 2009).
- Chinua Achebe obituary from the Guardian; March 22, 2013 (comprehensive, well-written obituary)
- Audio (8:47)
Remembering Chinua Achebe And The Importance Of Struggle; from NPR; March 25, 2013 (thoughtful literary analysis rather than just reporting his death).
Transcript - Chimamanda Adichie shares her thoughts on the passing of Chinua Achebe. Channels Television, Nigeria; March 26, 2013 (Adichie is one of the foremost contemporary African writers influenced by Achebe)
- Chinua Achebe, the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University, died in Boston on Thursday evening, March 21, 2013. (Achebe joined the Brown faculty in the fall of 2009).