Things Fall Apart @ 60: GLOBAL CELEBRATIONS BEGIN

The global celebration of Chinua Achebe’s Magnus opus; Things Fall Apart is set to capture the imagination of the literary world. To this end, activities have been lined up in ten African countries and five Nigerian cities.

Coordinated by Christie and Chinua Achebe Foundation, the global leg of the African celebration will be holding in Ghana, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Kenya, Liberia, Tanzania, Togo and Cameroon culminating in December.

In Nigeria, the celebrations will take place in Lagos, Ibadan, Abuja, Sokoto, climaxing in University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where Achebe used to be a lecturer in the Department of English.

The trailblazing novel was published by William Heinemann Ltd. in the UK in 1958, which instantly placed African literature on world map. It is regarded as the most widely read modern African novel, according to Wikipedia. So far, it has been translated into over 45 languages.

Born in 1930 in Ogidi, Anambra State, Achebe won the novel Man Booker Prize in 2007. Other notable novel of are: No Longer at Easer, Arrow of God, A Man of The People, and Anthill of the Savannah. In 1979, he was awarded the Nigerian National Order of Merit.