Novelist Chinua Achebe, Enugu, Nigeria

Chinua Achebe (born, 1930), Nigerian novelist. A graduate of University College at Ibadan (1953), Achebe, an Igbo who writes in English, is one of Africa's most acclaimed authors and considered by some to be the father of modern African literature. His early novels, including the groundbreaking Things Fall Apart (1958) and No Longer at Ease (1960), describe poignantly the effects of European colonialism on Igbo society, Nigeria, and newly independent African nations. He taught at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (1976-81), and was founding editor (1971) of the influential journal Okike. Achebe returned to the novel form with Anthills of the Savannah (1987). He has also written numerous short stories, children's books, and a book of essays, Home and Exile (2000), reflecting on his and his nation's coming of age. A paraplegic as a result of a 1990 automobile accident, Achebe has lived in the United States since, teaching at Bard College. In 2007 he was awarded the Man Booker International Prize. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon was on assignment for Life magazine and traveled to Africa from August 18, 1959 to December 20, 1959.