Africa’s greatest storyteller Chinua Achebe would have been 87 today. This is his story.

Widely considered as Africa‘s greatest storyteller, Chinua Achebe would have been 87 on Thursday.

In his honour, Google is changing its logo to a doodle, or illustration, portraying him. This is his story:

African novelist

Nigeria’s storytelling tradition . Born in Ogidi in 1930 to an Igbo family, Chinua was the studious son of an evangelical priest. He grew up listening to stories narrated in his community.

In love with the library, Chinua completed English studies at the University of Ibadan in four years instead of the standard five.

In 1961, he worked for the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation and married Christie Okoli. They had four children together.

European interpretation of African culture. To give African children better quality books, he co-founded in 1967 Citadel Press with renowned writer Christopher Okigbo to publish children’s books.

A voracious reader, Achebe was disappointed by non-African authors’ ignorance about the continent and its people.

Biafran independence . When the region of Biafra broke away in 1967, Achebe became a strong Biafran supporter. He later dabbled in political activism.

On the desperate conditions suffered by Biafran refugees, Achebe wrote the following rhymes in “Refugee Mother and Child”:

Of unwashed children with washed-out ribs

And dried-up bottoms waddling in labored steps,

Behind blown-empty bellies. Other mothers there

Had long ceased to care, but not this one

Frustrated by corruption in Nigeria, Chinua emigrated to the United States in 1969 as a university lecturer. He returned to Nigeria in 1976 and worked as a professor of English.

Car accident. In 1990 Achebe was in a crash in Nigeria that left him paralysed and in a wheelchair. In the same year, he moved to the US and taught at Bard College for 15 years.

In 2009, Achebe joined Brown University as a professor of African Studies.

Chinua died in Boston on March 21, 2013, at the age of 82.

Things Fall Apart

Clash of civilisations . As a Nigerian novelist, Achebe portrayed the social disorientation that resulted from Western colonisation of Africa.

In 1958, he published his first and most widely read novel, Things Fall Apart. The novel portrays the clash of cultures that took place when Christian missionaries and Western colonials encountered traditional African societies in the 19th century.

The novel follows the life of Okonkwo, an Ibo leader and local wrestling champion. He is exiled and upon his return, finds his community has submitted to the influence of Western colonisers. Realising how much his life and his village have worsened, he hangs himself.

“The world has no end, and what is good among one people is an abomination with others,” writes Achebe.

100 best English novels. In 2005, Time magazine listed Things Fall Apart in its list of the 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.

Things Fall Apart is still one of the most read books in modern African literature. The novel sold over 12 million copies and was translated into more than 50 languages.

The book was followed by a sequel, No Longer at Ease, originally written as the second part of a larger work along with Arrow of God.

A child cannot pay for its mother's milk Chinua Achebe, in his book Things Fall Apart

Recognition