Chinua Albert Achebe, who has a blessed memory, was a prolific Nigerian author best known for his inventive style of writing and simplicity of expression.
Known as one of Nigeria’s finest writers, Achebe lived and died as an international hero and literary giant, leaving an unforgettable legacy and footprint in the sands of time, particularly in African literature.
Before his death, the famous Nigerian writer Achebe wrote forty-four (44) books, of which Things Fall Apart (originally published in 1958) is the first and most popular.
Things fall apart as the story of a traditional warrior hero (Ezeulu), unable to adapt to changing conditions in the early days of British rule, was composed while Achebe was working for the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation.
Also see: 10 African Literature Books About Africa You May Not Know
Other works by Chinua Albert Achebe, dubbed “the father of modern African writing” and “Africa’s greatest storyteller”, include:
novels
- No Longer Effortless (1960)
- Arrow of God (1964)
- A Man of the People (1966)
- Anthills of the Savannah (1987)
poetry
- Beware, Soul Brother and Other Poems (1971)
- Don’t Let Him Die: An Anthology of Poems for Christopher Okigbo (1978)
- Another Africa (1998)
- Collected Poems Carcanet Press (2005)
- Mother and child of the refugees
- vulture
- Marriage is a Private Affair (1952)
- Path of the Dead (1953)
- The Sacrifice and Other Stories (1953)
- Civil Peace (1971)
- Girls at War and Other Stories (including “Vengeful Creditor”) (1973)
- African Short Stories (editor, with CL Innes) (1985)
- The Heinemann Book of Contemporary African Short Stories (Editor, with CL Innes) (1992)
- The Voter
children’s book
- Chike and the River (1966)
- How the Leopard Got His Claws (with John Iroaganachi) (1972)
- The Flute (1975)
- The Drum (1978)
Essays, criticism, non-fiction and political commentary
- The Novelist as Teacher (1965)
- A picture of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” (1975) – also in Hopes and Obstacles
- Tomorrow on Creation Day (1975)
- The Trouble With Nigeria (1984)
- Hopes and Obstacles (1988)
- Home and Exile (2000)
- Raising a British Protected Child (6 October 2009)
- There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra (11 October 2012)
The aforementioned award-winning literary works, not only has Achebe received numerous awards, but also over 30 honorary degrees from universities in Nigeria, South Africa, Canada, England, Scotland and the United States, including Harvard, Brown University and Dartmouth College.
Without mincing, Albert, whose name is Things Fall Apart, synonymous with his iconic novel, is an African literary icon. In this article we would not delve too much into him as this great Nigerian icon needs little or no introduction as he is popularly known as the giant of African literature. We bring you other aspects of his life that are relatively unknown.
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African literary icon Chinua Albert Achebe was born in 1930 in Ogidi, a small town near Onitsha in Anambra State, eastern Nigeria, to Isaiah Okafo Achebe (father) and Janet Anaenechi Iloegbunam (mother).
He was the fifth child of his father, who worked as an instructor in Christian catechism for the Church Missionary Society. His older siblings are Frank Okwuofu, John Chukwuemeka Ifeanyichukwu, Zinobia Uzoma, and Augustine Ndubisi, while Grace Nwanneka was the youngest girl to come to Achebe.
Achebe’s parents had reportedly abandoned their traditional religion and converted to Christianity, naming him Albert, after Queen Victoria of Britain’s husband, Prince Albert.
Growing up he was exposed to traditional and Christian practices as well as storytelling mostly done by members of his family.
training
Chinua Albert Achebe began his teaching career in 1936 at St. Philip’s Central School, Ogidi, Anambra, where he became very popular as a very bright student with the best handwriting in his class. Because of his intelligence, he was promoted to a higher class.
Achebe was later admitted to medical schoolMajor Scholar at Nigeria’s first university, University College (now University of Ibadan), awarded a scholarship in 1948. However, he lost interest in the prestigious course after falling more in love with literature and discovering so many pieces of European literature about Africa.
After deciding to quit medicine, he took up English, history, and theology, losing his scholarship in the process. University College was known in the 1950s for producing literary scholars such as Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka, poet and playwright John Pepper Clark, poet Christopher Okigbo and Elechi Amadi, who was on the Faculty of Science.
It was during his time at university that Achebe wrote Polar Undergraduate, his debut as an author. He wrote other essays, short stories, and letters on philosophy and freedom in science, including In a Village Church, The Old Order Conflicting with the New, and The Way of the Dead. He graduated from the university in 1953 and received a second degree.
Career, Rise to Fame
After graduating, Achebe was at the Merchants of Light School in Oba, where he taught the English language. He left school for the Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBS) in Lagos in 1954 after teaching for just four months.
In 1956, cult Nigerian author Achebe made his first trip outside of Nigeria after being selected by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in the Staff School Run.
After his return to Nigeria he worked on his novel “Things Fall Apart” until he published 2000 printed copies of the book on June 17, 1958 by Heinemann Verlag.
As the father of African literature, Achebe has received many international and local awards for his unparalleled contribution to African literature. He was awarded the first Nigerian Merit Award (1979). Man Booker International Prize (2007); Dorothy and Lillian Gish awarded $300,000 (2010); Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations Population Fund (1999).
In his collection of essays titled Home andExile, Chinua listed three reasons for becoming a writer. The first, he said, was the compulsion to tell a story, the second to present it uniquely, and the third, dedication to the task.
Family – wife, children
While working in Enugu as Administrator Officer, Chinua Albert Achebe met his wife, Christiana Chinwe (Christie) Okoli, who was also an NBS staffer. They were later married on September 10, 1961 at the Resurrection Chapel on the University of Ibadan campus.
Christie and Achebe’s marriage was blessed with two sons and two daughters – Ikechukwu Achebe (born December 3, 1964), Chinelo Achebe (born July 11, 1962), Chidi Achebe (born May 24, 1967) and Nwando (born March 7, 1970).
Chinelo Achebe-Ejueyitche, who teaches and writes in New York State, where she lives with her family, is already following in her father’s footsteps. She has several books including The Last Laugh and Other Stories.
Achebe’s last child, Nwando, is one of the youngest full professors at Michigan State University, America. History professor Nwando Achebe-Ogundimu received her PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2000.
She also served as a Ford Foundation and Fulbright Hays Fellow at the Department of African Studies and History at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 1996 and 1998.
See also: Top 10 African Authors of All Time
Her first novel, Peasants, Traders, Warriors and Kings: Female Power and Authority in Northern Igboland, 1900-1960, was published in 2005, while her second novel, The Queen of Colonial Nigeria: Ahebi Ugbabe, was published in 2011.
Achebe’s second son, Chidi, is a medical executive. dr Chidi, an internist in Boston, Massachusetts, has been at the practice for more than 20 years and received his medical degree from Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine.
What is Achebe’s fortune?
To be honest, Chinua Albert Achebe was a famous son of Nigeria who made his people and country proud.
His first widely acclaimed work, Things Fall Apart, was initially looked down upon by the University of Berlin in Ibadan but after a while became an international literary work and one of the most important works of African literature. The book later became a success story when he sold over 12 million copies of the book and translated it into 50 different languages to make more money from sales.
Things Fall Apart immediately gained international recognition and also became the basis for a play by Biyi Bandele. Years later, in 1997, the Performance Studio in Nigeria staged a play that was shown in the US in 1999 as part of the Kennedy Center’s African Odyssey series. Achebe must have benefited from everything we believe helped increase his net worth.
Chinua Albert Achebe was Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and Charles P. Stevenson Professor of Languages and Literature at Bard College, Professor at David and Marianna Fisher University, and Director of Africana Studies at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island , where he was paid handsomely for his services.
This Nigerian prolific novelist’s net worth is reportedly worth $1.1 million, making him one of the richest African writers to have lived on earth. In September 2011, Achebe was named one of the 40 most powerful celebrities in Africa today by Forbes.
Death
Distinguished Nigerian author Chinua Albert Achebe died on March 21, 2013 at the age of 82 in Boston, United States.
Achebe, a harsh critic of corruption in Nigeria, was buried on May 20, 2013 in his small hometown of Ogidi. The high profile public event was attended by over 2000 people including prominent Nigerian leaders, foreign dignitaries, fellow writers and the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Before his death, Chinua had cheated death. After surviving various assassinations during Nigeria’s civil war and a fatal accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down in 1990, he spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
Interesting facts about the legendary novelist Achebe
- Former South African President Nelson Mandela names Chinua Albert Achebe as one of his favorite authors.
- Achebe was a six-year-old grandfather until his death on March 21, 2013.
- The prolific Nigerian writer met with other prominent writers from around the world, including Kofi Awoonor, Wole Soyinka and Langston Hughes, at a conference of African English writers in Uganda.
- Achebe called Cyprian Ekwensi an important influence in his career.
- The revered writer strongly supported his native Biafra,
- His sun sign is Scorpio.
- Chinua Achebe Albert died at the age of 82.