The character arc of Chinua Achebe

A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record

Born 16 November 1930 in Ogidi, to a teacher and a farmer. Died 21 March 2013 in Boston, aged eighty two. Between the two sit a bursary for medicine given up for English, a manuscript nearly lost in 1957, Things Fall Apart published on 17 June 1958, the Nigerian Broadcasting Service, the Biafran war, a car accident on 22 March 1990, fifteen years teaching at Bard, and the Man Booker International Prize in 2007. The line below draws that whole life in order.

Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.

Who was Chinua Achebe?

A typing agency nearly lost the whole thing.

His father was a teacher and evangelist and his mother a vegetable farmer and church leader. He went to Government College Umuahia and then to University College Ibadan in 1948 on a bursary to read medicine. He switched to English, history and theology, which cost him the bursary; the government supported him instead. Giving up a funded medical place in colonial Nigeria in 1948 is not a small decision, and it is the first real choice on the line.

In 1957 he sent the only manuscript of his first novel to a typing service in London, and it disappeared. It was recovered only because his employer, Angela Beattie, went to London and chased it. Heinemann printed two thousand copies on 17 June 1958. Things Fall Apart has not been out of print since, and it is the book most often credited with beginning modern African literature in English.

He joined the Nigerian Broadcasting Service, became Director of External Broadcasting and helped create the Voice of Nigeria in 1962. During the civil war he supported Biafran independence and travelled abroad as an envoy for it; his friend the poet Christopher Okigbo was killed in August 1967. On 22 March 1990 a car accident left him paralysed from the waist down. He taught at Bard College for more than fifteen years and moved to Brown in 2007, the same year he won the Man Booker International Prize. He twice declined Nigerian national honours. His line is worth reading because the book that changed everything almost never existed.

The moments

Chinua Achebe's timeline.

The 1940s

1 Sep 1948

Medicine, or English

Crossroads, decided.

The paths laid out: switch to English, taken, or stay in medicine. Things Fall Apart was published ten years later and is credited with beginning modern African literature in English.

Oct 1948

He gave up the medical place

Setback, and it changed everything. A funded medical place in colonial Nigeria, given up for English. Nobody would have advised it.

The 1950s

~1953

He taught, then broadcast

Milestone, and it changed his direction. The job that paid while the novel was being written.

Jun 1957

The manuscript disappeared

Setback, and it changed everything. The only copy, mislaid by a typing agency, and saved because his boss went and asked for it.

17 Jun 1958

Two thousand copies

Milestone, and it changed everything. Two thousand copies. It has not been out of print since.

The 1960s

~1962

The Voice of Nigeria

Milestone, and it changed his direction. Running how a new country spoke to the world.

Aug 1967

Okigbo was killed

Setback, and it changed everything. His friend, a poet, killed in the fighting. He spent the war travelling and arguing.

The 1990s

22 Mar 1990

The car accident

Setback, and it changed everything. Fifty nine years old, and paralysed from the waist down.

~1992

Bard, for fifteen years

Milestone, and it changed his direction. He went back to work, and kept teaching for two more decades.

The 2000s

13 Jun 2007

The Man Booker International

Milestone, and it changed everything. Forty nine years after two thousand copies were printed.

The 2010s

11 Oct 2012

There Was a Country

Milestone, and it changed his direction. The war, written down at last, forty two years after it ended.

The line ends 21 Mar 2013, in Boston, at eighty two, and he was buried at Ogidi where it started. What it set moving is a whole literature: an African novel written from the inside, which had to be argued for before it could be taken for granted.

What he wrote

Books by Chinua Achebe

1958
Things Fall Apart
1960
No Longer at Ease
1964
Arrow of God
1966
A Man of the People
1966
Chike and the River
1987
Anthills of the Savannah

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Chinua Achebe: frequently asked questions

What people ask about his line.

What was Chinua Achebe's character arc?

A student who gave up a funded medical place for English, nearly lost the only manuscript of his first novel to a typing agency, published it in 1958, and went on writing through a war, a car accident and two decades of teaching.

What nearly happened to Chinua Achebe's manuscript?

A London typing service lost it in 1957. It was recovered only because Achebe's employer, Angela Beattie, chased it up during a trip to London. Heinemann printed two thousand copies on 17 June 1958.

Why did Chinua Achebe switch from medicine?

He enrolled at University College Ibadan in 1948 on a bursary for medicine and changed to English, history and theology, which cost him the scholarship. The government supported him instead. It is the first real decision on his line.

What did Chinua Achebe do during the Biafran war?

He supported Biafran independence and served as a foreign envoy, travelling internationally to advocate for the cause. His friend the poet Christopher Okigbo was killed in combat in August 1967. He wrote about it decades later.

What happened to Chinua Achebe in 1990?

A car accident on 22 March left him paralysed from the waist down, at fifty nine. He went back to work, teaching at Bard College for more than fifteen years and then at Brown University from 2007.

What prizes did Chinua Achebe win?

The Man Booker International Prize in June 2007, and the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize in 2010. He also twice declined Nigerian national honours, in a decision this page records without giving his reasons for it.

Why is Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart important?

It is the book most often credited with beginning modern African literature in English: an African novel written from the inside rather than about Africans from outside. It has not been out of print since 1958.

Where does this timeline of Chinua Achebe's life come from?

From the public record. Character Arc drew every moment on this line from the sources listed at the foot of the page, and the kind and weight of each moment are our editorial reading. Chinua Achebe isn't a Member of Character Arc and has no connection with it, and no feeling is attributed to him.

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Sources

Chinua Achebe, English Wikipedia biography.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Chinua Achebe.
Man Booker International Prize, 2007 winner.