# Chinua Achebe

> Chinua Achebe (1930–2013) was a Nigerian novelist whose 1958 debut, Things Fall Apart, became modern African literature's most widely read work. He served the Biafran government during Nigeria's 1967–1970 civil war, later recounting it in his 2012 memoir There Was a Country. He won the Man Booker International Prize in 2007 and died in Boston in 2013.

**Category:** People & Ethnicity · **Updated:** 2026-07-26 19:36:35 · **Canonical:** https://nigeriastuff.org/a/chinua-achebe

## Key facts
- **Born:** 16 November 1930, Ogidi, Anambra State (then Eastern Nigeria)
- **Died:** 21 March 2013, Boston, Massachusetts, aged 82
- **Debut novel:** Things Fall Apart (1958), Heinemann
- **Civil war role:** Served the Biafran government, 1967–1970, as an international emissary
- **Major honour:** Man Booker International Prize, 2007
- **Final major work:** There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra (2012)
- **Disputed label:** Widely called "father of African literature" — a title he himself rejected as patronising

## Sources
- Chinua Achebe — Biography.com (A&E Television Networks) (https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/chinua-achebe)
- Chinua Achebe — EBSCO Research Starters (https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/biography/chinua-achebe)
- There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra — book page — Penguin Random House (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/311166/there-was-a-country-by-chinua-achebe/)
- Breaking: Prof Chinua Achebe is dead — Premium Times Nigeria (https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/126311-breaking-prof-chinua-achebe-is-dead.html)
- Nigerian author Chinua Achebe dies after brief illness — BBC News (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-21898664)
- Achebe rejects 'father of modern African literature' tag — The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/nov/12/achebe-rejects-father-modern-african-literature)
- The Man Booker International Prize 2007 — The Booker Prizes Foundation (https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/prize-years/international/2007)

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