Chinua Achebe

He married Christie Okoli in 1961 and had four children. He went on to become a grandfather of six.

He died after an illness in 2013.

He was born as Albert Chinualumogu Achebe in Nigeria to Isaiah Okafo Achebe and Janet Ilogbunam. He had five surviving siblings.

His parents had stopped practicing their traditional religion and had converted to Christianity. Therefore as a young boy Achebe was exposed to a combination of traditionalism as well as Christian influence.

Storytelling was a part of their rich Nigerian tradition and he grew up listening to the stories told by his family members.

He joined St. Philip’s Central School in 1936. He was a very bright student and appreciated by his teachers.

He was accepted into the highly prestigious Government College in Umuahia in 1944. An exceptionally brilliant student, he completed his studies there in just four years instead of the standard five. He loved the library and spent hours reading books by different authors.

He worked as a teacher at a small school in a dilapidated building for four months. He encouraged his students to develop a reading habit.

In 1954, he got an opportunity to work for the Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBS) in Lagos. His job was to prepare scripts for oral delivery. His experience there helped him in writing realistic dialogues later on in his writing career.

During this time he also began working on a novel. As a student he had been critical of the manner in which European writers portrayed Africa and its culture, and was determined to depict his culture realistically himself.

He was inspired by the works of the Nigerian writer Cyprian Ekwensi who was primarily an exception in the literary world which had seen few other notable writers from Nigeria.

He was appointed at the Staff School run by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in 1956 and this gave him the chance to go to London and get feedback on the novel he was working on.

His debut novel ‘Things Fall Apart’ is one of the first African novels in English to have received global critical acclaim. The book is widely read throughout the world and has been translated into more than 50 languages.