RIP Chinua Achebe: 1930-2013
Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 4:41 am
I know a lot of people here have read his most famous work and enjoyed it. So passes a great African literary voice.Things Fall Apart Author, Prof. Chinua Achebe, Dies
Nigerian author Chinua Achebe has died, reports Nigeria's Daily Post.
Professor Achebe, who was best known for his acclaimed book Things Fall Apart, died at the age of 82.
CNN Mornings has tweeted the news and SA photographer Victor Dlamini said he has received confirmation from Achebe's family in Boston that he has indeed passed away.
Achebe's publisher also confirmed his death to AFP.
Mari Yamazaki, spokesperson for Penguin in London, said: "I'm afraid it has been sadly confirmed now."
Achebe was the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University in Boston since 2009.
On 16 November 1930 Achebe was born in the Igbo village of Ogidi, Nigeria.
Achebe was often referred to as the father of modern African literature and he released his memoir, There Was A Country: A Personal History of Biafra, in September 2012, which experts insisted was a deeply needed piece of work in a fractured Nigeria.
I must note though that I have also read some less flattering (or at least more critical) reviews of his recently published and long await memoir.
You can read a good one here if you're interested: Review: Chinua Achebe On Biafra
--A