About The Writer
The son of devout Christian parents, Chinua Achebe was born and raised in Ogidi, a town in eastern Nigeria. Achebe is considered one of the founding fathers of African literature and is the winner of countless honours and awards. Achebe is the author of dozens of acclaimed essays and books, including the groundbreaking novel Things Fall Apart (1958). Achebe left Nigeria to teach when the country was put under military rule. While working as a faculty member at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Achebe gave a contentious chancellor's lecture titled “Racism in Conrad's ‘Heart of Darkness’”, which was later published in his collection of essays Hopes and Impediments (1988). Achebe says he began thinking about becoming a writer after reading “some appalling novels about Africa” written by Europeans. These led him decide, “that the story we had to tell could not be told for us by anyone else no matter how gifted or well-intentioned.”
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Famous quotes containing the word writer:
“I perceived that to express those impressions, to write that essential book, which is the only true one, a great writer does not, in the current meaning of the word, invent it, but, since it exists already in each one of us, interprets it. The duty and the task of a writer are those of an interpreter.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)