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Biography chinua achebe

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Triana Dewi
Triana Dewi

Chinua Achebe was a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic best known for his novel Things Fall Apart. He was born in 1930 in Ogidi, Nigeria and excelled at school, winning a scholarship to university. After graduating, he worked for Nigerian broadcasting and supported Biafran independence. Since 2009, he has been a professor at Brown University. Achebe was highly educated and published several influential works exploring Igbo culture and the collision with European values.

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THE BIOGRAPHY OF CHINUA ACHEBE By : Triana Dewi 1
• Born 16 November 1930 as Albert Chin�� alụ mọ gụ Achebe • Nigerian novelist, poet,professor and critic best known for his first novel and magnum opus, Things Fall Apart (1958), which is the most widely read book in modern African literature • Raised by his parents in the Igbo town of Ogidi in southeastern Nigeria, Achebe excelled at school and won a scholarship for undergraduate studies. 2
• After graduation, he worked for the Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBS) and soon moved to the metropolis of Lagos. • When the region of Biafra broke away from Nigeria in 1967, Achebe became a supporter of Biafran independence and acted as ambassador for the people of the new nation. • Since 2009, he has been the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island United States. 3
Biography • Achebe's parents, Isaiah Okafo Achebe and Janet Anaenechi Iloegbunam, were converts to the Protestant Church Mission Society (CMS) in Nigeria. • Achebe's unabbreviated name, Chinualumogu ("May God fight on my behalf"), was a prayer for divine protection and stability. • The Achebe family had five other surviving children, named in a similar fusion of traditional words relating to their new religion: Frank Okwuofu, John Chukwuemeka Ifeanyichukwu, Zinobia Uzoma, Augustine Nduka, and Grace Nwanneka. 4
Early life • Chinua was born Albert Chinualumogu Achebe in the Igbo village of Ogidi on November 16, 1930. • After the youngest daughter was born, the family moved to Isaiah Achebe's ancestral town of Ogidi, in what is now the state of Anambra. • His education was furthered by the collages his father hung on the walls of their home, as well as almanacs and numerous books – including a prose adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (c. 1590) and an Igbo version of The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678). 5
Education • In 1936, Achebe entered St Philips' Central School • One teacher described him as the student with the best handwriting in class, and the best reading skills • Modelled on the British public school, and funded by the colonial administration, Government College had been established in 1929 to educate Nigeria's future elite. • Achebe was double-promoted in his first year, completing the first two years' studies in one, and spending only four years in secondary school, instead of the standard five. 6
University • In 1948, in preparation for independence, Nigeria's first university opened. Known as University College, (now the University of Ibadan), it was an associate college of the Universityof London • While at the university, Achebe wrote his first short story, "In a Village Church", which combines details of life in rural Nigeria with Christian institutions and icons, a style which appears in many of his later works. • After the final examinations at Ibadan in 1953, Achebe was awarded a second-class degree. 7
• Since the sixties, Achebe has been doing more teaching and lecturing and less fiction writing, although he has published books for the young and has concentrated exclusively on educating them. He also wrote Anthills of the Savannah, which was a finalist for the Booker Prize in England in 1987. Much of his later writing since the seventies has been wrapped up in the political turmoil of Nigeria which has undergone a series of upheavals and coup d’etats by various political factions. • In the sixties, Achebe was targeted for persecution by one of the non-Igbo lead governments as a dissident and so he fled with his family to Eastern Nigeria, which had declared itself an independent state called Biafra. After a bloody civil war, Biafra was defeated and Achebe exiled himself to Europe and then America. 8
• Achebe has received many honors, and his fame has spread not only in Africa, but all over the Commonwealth, Europe and America. He has been made a Fellow of the Modern Languages Association of U.S.A. and has been awarded Honorary Doctorates by the Universities of Sterling and Southampton. He has also won the coveted Neil Gunn Fellowship awarded by the Scottish Arts Council. • At present, Chinua Achebe lives with his wife in Annandale, New York where they both teach at Bard College. They have four children. 9
THANK YOU 10

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Biography chinua achebe

  • 1. THE BIOGRAPHY OF CHINUA ACHEBE By : Triana Dewi 1
  • 2. • Born 16 November 1930 as Albert Chinụ alụ mọ gụ Achebe • Nigerian novelist, poet,professor and critic best known for his first novel and magnum opus, Things Fall Apart (1958), which is the most widely read book in modern African literature • Raised by his parents in the Igbo town of Ogidi in southeastern Nigeria, Achebe excelled at school and won a scholarship for undergraduate studies. 2
  • 3. • After graduation, he worked for the Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBS) and soon moved to the metropolis of Lagos. • When the region of Biafra broke away from Nigeria in 1967, Achebe became a supporter of Biafran independence and acted as ambassador for the people of the new nation. • Since 2009, he has been the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island United States. 3
  • 4. Biography • Achebe's parents, Isaiah Okafo Achebe and Janet Anaenechi Iloegbunam, were converts to the Protestant Church Mission Society (CMS) in Nigeria. • Achebe's unabbreviated name, Chinualumogu ("May God fight on my behalf"), was a prayer for divine protection and stability. • The Achebe family had five other surviving children, named in a similar fusion of traditional words relating to their new religion: Frank Okwuofu, John Chukwuemeka Ifeanyichukwu, Zinobia Uzoma, Augustine Nduka, and Grace Nwanneka. 4
  • 5. Early life • Chinua was born Albert Chinualumogu Achebe in the Igbo village of Ogidi on November 16, 1930. • After the youngest daughter was born, the family moved to Isaiah Achebe's ancestral town of Ogidi, in what is now the state of Anambra. • His education was furthered by the collages his father hung on the walls of their home, as well as almanacs and numerous books – including a prose adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (c. 1590) and an Igbo version of The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678). 5
  • 6. Education • In 1936, Achebe entered St Philips' Central School • One teacher described him as the student with the best handwriting in class, and the best reading skills • Modelled on the British public school, and funded by the colonial administration, Government College had been established in 1929 to educate Nigeria's future elite. • Achebe was double-promoted in his first year, completing the first two years' studies in one, and spending only four years in secondary school, instead of the standard five. 6
  • 7. University • In 1948, in preparation for independence, Nigeria's first university opened. Known as University College, (now the University of Ibadan), it was an associate college of the Universityof London • While at the university, Achebe wrote his first short story, "In a Village Church", which combines details of life in rural Nigeria with Christian institutions and icons, a style which appears in many of his later works. • After the final examinations at Ibadan in 1953, Achebe was awarded a second-class degree. 7
  • 8. • Since the sixties, Achebe has been doing more teaching and lecturing and less fiction writing, although he has published books for the young and has concentrated exclusively on educating them. He also wrote Anthills of the Savannah, which was a finalist for the Booker Prize in England in 1987. Much of his later writing since the seventies has been wrapped up in the political turmoil of Nigeria which has undergone a series of upheavals and coup d’etats by various political factions. • In the sixties, Achebe was targeted for persecution by one of the non-Igbo lead governments as a dissident and so he fled with his family to Eastern Nigeria, which had declared itself an independent state called Biafra. After a bloody civil war, Biafra was defeated and Achebe exiled himself to Europe and then America. 8
  • 9. • Achebe has received many honors, and his fame has spread not only in Africa, but all over the Commonwealth, Europe and America. He has been made a Fellow of the Modern Languages Association of U.S.A. and has been awarded Honorary Doctorates by the Universities of Sterling and Southampton. He has also won the coveted Neil Gunn Fellowship awarded by the Scottish Arts Council. • At present, Chinua Achebe lives with his wife in Annandale, New York where they both teach at Bard College. They have four children. 9
  • 10. THANK YOU 10