Every day brings a new story. And each day contributes to story telling -- in prose and in poetry, in art and in music, on the stage, on the screen, and, of course, in books.
Today is the story of Nov. 16th
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It is the 320th day of the year, leaving 45 days remaining in 2022.
He told his stories about a changing Africa, particular regarding the clash of Western cultures with traditional African values and mores. He often called out colonialism and racism, and discussed themes such as feminism, masculinity, and history and politics.
He was born of the Igbo tribe, but his father was a Protestant minister who was a convert to Christianity. Achebe was baptized at St. Simon's in Nneobi. A the time of his birth, Nigeria was a British colony, and remained so until 1960.
He attended University College in Lagos, first intending to study medicine. But after reading Joseph Conrad, Joyce Cary, and other English novelists, he became determined to study literature and become a writer. He was enraged at the British writers' portrayals of his countrymen as savages and buffoons.
He published his first novel in 1958, Things Fall Apart, which explored the clash of traditional Igbo culture amid the European invasion and introduction of colonialism and Western values during the 19th Century. The novel was popular and praised, and it has become the touchstone of African views of European domination of the continent.
He wrote in English, which is the official language in Nigeria, and the one, he said, in which he could reach the most people.
He followed his debut novel with with two sequels. No Longer at Ease (1960), is about a newly appointed civil servant in the colonial Nigerian government who cannot reconcile the values of his people with his new obligations. Arrow of God (1964) is set in the 1920s, and features the chief priest of the village dealing with agents of British colonialism and his son's conversation to Christianity.
They formed a trilogy that maintain a pivotal place in African literature, and remain among the most widely read and studied books in the African canon.
His later books include Man of the People and Anthills of the Savannah, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 1987. Achebe won the International Man Booker Prize in 2007. He also wrote short stories, poetry, essays, and criticism.
Achebe also worked as a writer and producer at the Nigerian Broadcasting Company in Lagos, as a teacher of English and literature at schools in Nigeria, and he later served as a professor at Bard College in New York and Brown University in Rhode Island.
He died in 2013.
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