Albert Chinualumogu Achebe , popularly known as Chinua Achebe, is regarded in the Western world as the father and central figure of modern African literature — a title which Achebe, in his characteristic humility, rejected.
After Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe published No Longer at Ease and Arrow of God , said to complete the African Trilogy. His later novels include A Man of the People and Anthills of the Savannah . Those seminal novels, numerous short stories, poetry, essays, children’s books, and his personal account of the Nigerian civil war, There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra, released October 2012, six months prior to his death, form the complete oeuvre of Chinua Achebe.
In 2021, when the Anambra State Government, under Governor Willie Obiano, instituted the Chinua Achebe Prize for Literature, the world applauded the idea as innovative, and Achebe as most deserving of the Prize as the Father of African Literature. It is both sad and embarrassing to hear that after only two years, Anambra State Government can no longer meet its commitments and obligations to fund the Chinua Achebe Prize for Literature. An ANA official was quoted as saying that the Anambra Government has not funded the prize since 2023, “neither do we have assurance that they will fund the prize beyond promises”. What a shameful story!