Poet and novelist Chinua Achebe was one of the most influential African writers of the last century. He was also considered by many to be one of the most original literary artists writing in English during his lifetime. He is best known for his novel Things Fall Apart (1958).
Born Albert Chinualumogo Achebe, Chinua Achebe was raised by Christian evangelical parents in the large village Ogidi, in Igboland, Eastern Nigeria. He received an early education in English but grew up surrounded by a complex fusion of Igbo traditions and colonial legacy. Achebe would later recall, "on one arm of the cross, we sang hymns and read the Bible night and day. On the other, my father's brother and his...
