Chinua Achebe facts for kids

Chinua Achebe
Quick facts for kids Chinua Achebe
	Chinua Achebe in 2008
Born	Albert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe; 16 November 1930; Ogidi, Nigeria Protectorate
Died	22 March 2013 (aged 82); Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Occupation	David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and professor of Africana studies Brown University
Nationality	Nigerian
Period	1958–present
Notable works	"The African Trilogy": Things Fall Apart, No Longer at Ease, Arrow of God, A Man of the People and Anthills of the Savannah

Chinua Achebe (born Albert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe, 16 November 1930 - 22 March 2013) was a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic. He was best known for writing the novel, Things Fall Apart which was first printed in 1958. It is the most widely read book in modern African literature. Achebe went to Nigeria's first university, University College. Achebe wrote his first short story, "In a Village Church," at university.

Life

Achebe was an Igbo man. The Igbo are one of the biggest tribes in Nigeria. His parents were Christians. They gave him the English name Albert. His full Igbo name is "Chinualumogu," which means "may God fight on my behalf."

University

Achebe went to University College in Ibadan to study medicine on a scholarship, but then decided to study English, history, and theology after reading a book written by a white man that made Nigerians and Africans look bad. He wanted to tell the world stories that did not make Africans look bad. Because he switched his field of study, he lost his scholarship.

Writing style

Achebe's writing style is based on how the Igbo tell stories orally (by word of mouth). The Igbo did not write down their stories before Europeans came to Africa. His stories use a lot of folk tales, songs, and proverbs. The characters in his book also make long speeches.

Use of the English language

Many other African writers criticized Achebe for writing in English instead of in an African language. They said that by using the colonizer's language, he was spreading neo-colonial ideas that were preventing progress in Africa.

Achebe said that writing in English let everyone in Nigeria read in one language. Before colonization, the different tribes spoke different languages. He also said that writing in English allowed for people in other countries read his stories. However, he says that there are many African concepts and words that cannot be fully expressed in English.

Achebe wrote in English but used it in ways that reflected an African style.

Themes

Themes are the ideas or topics that are present in a story.

Culture and colonialism

In his writing, Achebe talks about African culture and the effects of European colonization on African societies.

Masculinity and Femininity

Achebe's stories also talk about gender roles.

Influence

Achebe has influenced many other modern African writers. He got a lot of awards for his stories. Even to this day, people still talk about him and the stories he wrote.

Images for kids

Street in Ibadan, 2007
Lagos in 2007
A spiral stack of the 1994 Anchor Books edition of Things Fall Apart
Achebe selected the novel Weep Not, Child by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o as one of the first titles of Heinemann's African Writers Series.
The University of Massachusetts Amherst at night
Stone Row at the centre of the Bard College campus
A 1901 stamp from southern Colonial Nigeria