Pagine1930–2013 · Ogidi, Nigeria · also known as Achebe, Albert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe
Chinua Achebe is often called the father of modern African literature. Things Fall Apart (1958) — the story of the proud Igbo wrestler Okonkwo and the coming of British missionaries and colonial rule, its title taken from a poem by W. B. Yeats — has sold more than 20 million copies in some 50 languages and showed the world Africa told from the inside. No Longer at Ease, Arrow of God and A Man of the People followed. As founding editor of Heinemann’s African Writers Series he launched dozens of careers, and his 1975 lecture on Conrad’s Heart of Darkness changed how that book is read.
Read the “African trilogy” in story order: Things Fall Apart (1958), Arrow of God (1964), then No Longer at Ease (1960), which follows Okonkwo’s grandson.
Part of our African Literature reading list — print it, email it to yourself or share it.
Olaudah Equiano · Sol Plaatje · Wole Soyinka · Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o · Naguib Mahfouz · Mariama Bâ · Nadine Gordimer · J. M. Coetzee · Bessie Head · Tsitsi Dangarembga · Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chinua Achebe is often called the father of modern African literature. Things Fall Apart (1958) — the story of the proud Igbo wrestler Okonkwo and the coming of British missionaries and colonial rule, its title taken from a poem by W.
Things Fall Apart is usually considered Chinua Achebe’s best-known work, followed by Arrow of God, No Longer at Ease, A Man of the People.
Read the “African trilogy” in story order: Things Fall Apart (1958), Arrow of God (1964), then No Longer at Ease (1960), which follows Okonkwo’s grandson.
Both refer to the same writer. Other spellings and names include Achebe, Albert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe.
Chinua Achebe’s books are still under copyright, so they are not free to download, but many can be borrowed free from your public library or Open Library — we link to them below.