Achebe, Chinua

Achebe, Chinua (1930- ), Nigerian novelist and poet, whose first novel, Things Fall Apart (1958), written in indignation at the representation of Africans in European fiction, set the theme for his subsequent work: the impact of Western influences on traditional African society. Achebe's other works include Arrow of God (1964), and A Man of the People (1966). Unsentimental, often ironic, they vividly convey tribal culture and the very speech of the Igbo people. Also among Achebe's writings are the short-story collection, Girls at War and Other Stories (1972), and Christmas in Biafra and Other Poems (1973), joint winner of the Commonwealth Poetry Prize.

In 1971 he was a founding editor of Okike, one of Africa's most influential literary magazines. A later work, Anthills of the Savannah (1987), is a novel about the failure of contemporary African politicians and intellectuals—it was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. His essay collection Hopes and Impediments (1988) includes the 1977 essay “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness”, a robust critique of Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. The autobiographical Home and Exile (2000) is based on lectures Achebe gave at Harvard University in 1998. His Collected Poems was published in 2004.