Daily Independent (Lagos)
15 November 2008
A world renowned novelist, academic and administrator, Chinua Achebe was born on November 16, 1930. He hails from Ogidi, near Onitsha, in Anambra State.
He attended CMS School, Ogidi, Anambra State; Government College, Umuahia, Abia State between 1944 and 1948. For his higher education, he went to the University College (now University of Ibadan), Ibadan from 1949 to 1953.
He started his career as a Producer, Nigerian Broadcasting Service (now Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN)), Lagos, 1954-1959. He became the Regional Controller, Enugu, a post he held from 1959-1961; director, Voice of Nigeria (VON), Lagos, 1961-66; senior research fellow, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, 1967-1972; professor of English, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, U.S.A., 1972-1975; professor, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, U.S.A., 1975-1976; professor of English, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, 1976-1981; professor emeritus, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, since 1985; editorial adviser academic, Heinemann Educational Books Nigeria Limited.
He was founding editor, Nsukkascope, University of Nigeria Camps Magazine; founding editor, Okike (a cultural review journal); editorial adviser, African Writers' Series, Heinemann, 1962-1972; regents lecturer, University of California, Los Angeles, U.S.A., 1984.
In 1988 he became the chairman of Board, FRCN. He was chairman and publisher, African Commentary; visiting distinguished professor of English, City College, New York, 1989; Montgomery fellow/visiting professor, Dartmouth College, Hanover, 1990; visiting professor, Stanford University, 1990; professor of literature, Bard College, Annandale, Hudson, New York, U.S.A.
He became a fellow of Modern Language Association of America in1974 and Ghana Association of Writers in 1975.
He was president, Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) between 1981 and 1986.
He was member, Tokyo Colloquium (1981).
He has won several awards including becoming a honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1982), governor, News-Concern International Foundation, 1983; member, International Committee of the Festival of Pan African Arts and Culture, Senegal, 1987-1989.
He is fellow, Royal Society of Literature, United Kingdom.
He was a winner of the Margaret Wong Memorial Prize Award in 1959; Nigerian National Trophy Award in 1960; Jock Campbell New Statesman Award, 1965; Commonwealth Poetry Prize, 1972; The Lotus International (Afro-Asian Writers) Prize, 1975; Neill Gunn International Prize of the Scottish Arts Council, 1975; Certificate of Merit, Best-selling Author of the Year 1986; Fourth Dimension Publishing Company, Enugu, 1986; Fulbright Fellowship Award for Educational Exchange Programme, 1987-1988; Peace Prize, German Booksellers Association, June 2002; voted one of the 100 writers Norwegian Book Clubs, May 2002. He won the Man Booker International Prize in 2007.
He is a recipient of national honour of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR), 1979; Nigerian National Merit Award, 1979.
He was given Honorary Doctoral degrees by: University of Stirling, Scotland; University of Southampton, England, 1974; Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, University of Massachusetts, U.S.A.; Doctor of Law, Prince Edward Island University, U.S.A., D.Litt University of Cape Town, South Africa, September 2002, at the third Steve Bikko Memorial Lecture; and many others. Listed as one of the world's 100 artistes by BBC 2001; 35th honourary degree from Haverford College Pennsylvania, U.S.A., and many others.
He has written several books and other publications among which are: Things Fall Apart, Heinneman, London, 1958; No Longer at Ease, Heinemann, London, 1960; The Sacrificial Egg and Other Stories (a collection of short stories), Etudo Press, Onitsha, 1962; Arrow of God, Heinneman, London, 1964; A Man of the People, Heinemann, London; 1966; Chike and the River, Cambridge University Press, London, and New York, 1966; Girls At War, Heinneman Educational Books, London, 1972; Beware Soul Brother, Heinemann Education Books, London, 1972; How the Leopard Got His Claws, Heinneman Books, Ibadan, 1973; Morning Yet On Creation Day, 1975; The Flute, 1978; The Drum, 1978; The Trouble with Nigeria, Fourth Dimension, Enugu, 1983; Anthills of the Savannah, Heinneman, London, 1987; Hopes and Impediments (Essays), 1987; Home and Exile, Oxford University Press Nigerian Topics (Essays), 1987.
Achebe enjoys reading and listening to music.
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