Chinua Achebe

The Man Brooker International Prize 2007 for fiction is the global Booker Prize for all literature published in English, be it written or translated into English. I hadn’t even seen the shortlist with 15 names when I heart this morning that the Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe (see Monday’s post) had been awarded the prize and thus will receive the 60.000 £ that come with this prestigious distinction. Nadine Gordimer, who won the prize years ago and called him the father of modern African literature was a member of the jury. Ashebe writes essays, poetry and fiction. The first book he won acclaim with is an historical novel Things Fall Apart about the influence of colonialism on the traditional African communities. A trait in his books is that he uses expressions, sayings, wisdoms and phrases from Ibo, the local language. All his books are political. He worked for the Nigerian Radio, having been trained at the BBC in London. He also has been a diplomat in Biafra. He will however to me always be a strong and honest writer. By the way: Dr. Scarpone informs me that Vanity Fair has a special on all Art African...