Chinua Achebe, Nigerian novelist, poet and critic

User icon Elizabeth Robey
20 June 2023
8 items

Chinua Achebe (1930-2013) was a Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic and is considered Africa's best known and most influential figure of modern African literature. The publication of his first novel, Things Fall Apart, in 1958 contested European narratives about Africans and also challenged traditional assumptions about the form and function of the novel. Achebe's writings and activism played a significant role in shaping the discourse around African identity and the importance of African voices in literature and history. This list contains audio interviews and a written speech by Achebe.


UW: University of Washington · 1973

Achebe's formal lecture, "Africa and Her Writers" with introduction by UW Professor Simon Ottenberg,known for his work in Igbo culture


Swati

Performer: Marrieth Vilakati, a 16-year-old Swati girl Place: Outside, on a path, 6 pm Audience: Ten Swati teenagers and children Notes: This is one of the set-books for this year …


University of Massachusetts Amherst · 1975

October Lecture (formerly Lugard Lectures) via Nigerian Broadcasting Corp. discussing importance of community to writers and examining the case of post-colonial Nigeria.


Black Past

In 1967 Chinua Achebe, one of Nigeria’s most prominent writers, supported the secession of Biafra from the Nigerian nation. In this 1968 speech he describes why he supported the breakaway …


BBC: British Broadcasting Corporation · 4 January 2000

Five portraits of Africans who changed the world including: president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, president of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, president of Liberia, JJ Roberts, writer Chinua Achebe and pioneering …


BBC: British Broadcasting Corporation · 30 August 1996

Profile of Nigerian writer of modern African fiction classic Things Fall Apart, author Chinua Achebe.



BBC: British Broadcasting Corporation · 23 July 1986

Writer and observer of the Nigerian political scene, Chinua Achebe answers questions on writing fiction and children's books, Nigerian politics and religion.