1. Chinua Achebe English 3 Fall Semester http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/jun/09/chinuaachebe.bookerprize

2. Biography Birthplace: Ogidi, Nigeria 1930- Education: Achebe attended the local Church Missionary Society primary school followed by Government College in Umuahia (1944-47). He went on to gain a degree in English literature and history from University College Ibadan (1948-53), which was then associated with the University of London.

3. Other Jobs Achebe worked for the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation from 1954 until just before the outbreak of the Nigeria-Biafra war. During the 1967-1970 war he worked for the Biafran diplomatic service. Since then, he has had a distinguished academic career lecturing at universities in both Nigeria and the United States. In the 1960s Achebe was the founding editor of the Heinemann African Writers Series and he has remained active in both publishing and politics.

4. Critical Verdict One of the founding fathers of African literature as its known today Masterful novelist, poet, short story writer and essayist

5. “Things Fall Apart” His canonical first novel, Things Fall Apart (1958), provides a counter-narrative to colonial notions of Africa as a savage place devoid of culture before the arrival of the white man.

6. Further insight Achebe believes that our ancestors created their myths and told their stories for a human purpose and therefore "any good story, any good novel, should have a message...” Unlike some African writers struggling for acceptance among contemporary English-language novelists, Achebe has been able to avoid imitating the trends in English literature. Instead he has embraced the idea at the heart of the African oral tradition: that art is, and always was, at the service of man.