His style relied heavily on the Igbo oral tradition, and combines straightforward narration with representations of folk stories, proverbs, and oratory. Novels of Achebe focus on the traditions of Igbo society, the effect of Christian influences, and the clash of values during and after the colonial era. He lived in the United States for several years in the 1970s, and after a car accident left him partially disabled, he returned to the United States in 1990. When the Nigerian government retook the region in 1970, he involved in political parties but witnessed the corruption and elitism that duly frustration him, who quickly resigned. The war ravaged the populace, and as starvation and violence took its toll, he appealed to the people of Europe and the Americas for aid. When the region of Biafra broke away from Nigeria in 1967, Achebe, a devoted supporter of independence, served as ambassador for the people of the new nation. In 1975, controversy focused on his lecture An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness' for its criticism of Joseph Conrad as 'a bloody racist.' Achebe defended the use of English, a 'language of colonizers,' in African literature. He gained worldwide attention in the late 1950s his later novels include No Longer at Ease (1960), Arrow of God (1964), A Man of the People (1966), and Anthills of the Savannah (1987).

After graduation, he worked for the Nigerian broadcasting service and quickly moved to the metropolis of Lagos.

World religions and traditional African cultures fascinated him, who began stories as a university student. People best know and most widely read his first book in modern African literature.Ĭhristian parents in the Igbo town of Ogidi in southeastern Nigeria reared Achebe, who excelled at school and won a scholarship for undergraduate studies. This poet and critic served as professor at Brown University. Works, including the novel Things Fall Apart (1958), of Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe describe traditional African life in conflict with colonial rule and westernization.

A Man of the People by Chinua Achebe