Achebe enjoys prize from afar
http://www.gbmnews.com/articles/864/1/Achebe-enjoys-prize-from-afar/Page1.html
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Published on 07/3/2007
By Ellen Wulfhorst and Tanzina Vega
New York - For Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe, winner of the Man Booker International Prize, the honour means the world has heard the stories he felt he needed to tell about his struggling homeland.
Achebe, often called the father of modern African literature, says he set out 50 years ago to write in the voice of an African, not of a white ruler or colonial power.
His first effort became his most acclaimed book, "Things Fall Apart," published in 1958. It has sold more than 10 million copies and been translated into 50 languages.
"I write to be read and to be acknowledged," said Achebe, 76, in an interview at his home in Annandale, New York.
New York - For Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe, winner of the Man Booker International Prize, the honour means the world has heard the stories he felt he needed to tell about his struggling homeland. Achebe, often called the father of modern African literature, says he set out 50 years ago to write in the voice of an African, not of a white ruler or colonial power.
His first effort became his most acclaimed book, "Things Fall Apart," published in 1958. It has sold more than 10 million copies and been translated into 50 languages.
"I write to be read and to be acknowledged," said Achebe, 76, in an interview at his home in Annandale, New York.
Achebe enjoys prize from afar
By Ellen Wulfhorst and Tanzina Vega
New York - For Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe, winner of the Man Booker International Prize, the honour means the world has heard the stories he felt he needed to tell about his struggling homeland.
Achebe, often called the father of modern African literature, says he set out 50 years ago to write in the voice of an African, not of a white ruler or colonial power.
His first effort became his most acclaimed book, "Things Fall Apart," published in 1958. It has sold more than 10 million copies and been translated into 50 languages.
"I write to be read and to be acknowledged," said Achebe, 76, in an interview at his home in Annandale, New York.
"It means what I have written has made some impact somewhere and I think this is why we're in the business of writing. We want to tell our story."
The Man Booker International Prize is awarded every two years to an author for a body of work that has contributed significantly to world literature.
The awards ceremony was slated for Thursday in Oxford, England, but Achebe said the journey would have been too strenuous.
Other of his works include "Arrow of God" and "Anthills of the Savannah." His writing centres on politics, the depiction of Africa in the West and the effects of colonisation.
"Fifty years ago I looked around and I didn't see my story among all the stories around, so something in me demanded that I do something about it," Achebe said.
Other books gave no language to Africans, he said, citing Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness."
"There's altogether about six words in the entire book spoken by Africans," he said. "Otherwise they are shrieking or howling or making some animal noises."
Africa, today and in his books, struggles in its transition to self-rule, Achebe said.
"The people have lost the habit of ruling themselves so they can't just get up one morning and say, 'OK, now I can rule myself'," he said.
"The consequences of colonisation don't disappear the day you celebrate independence."
Educated in Nigeria and London, Achebe joined the Nigerian Broadcasting Company in 1954. He served as a diplomat for the Biafran government in the late 1960s.
In 2004, he refused to accept the Commander of the Federal Republic, Nigeria's second-highest honour, in protest against conditions in his country.
Nigeria, he said, "disappoints" him.
"Nigeria is suffering from bad government," he said. "We have not been fortunate to produce a leader who says, 'I want to work for my people. I want to make this place better'."
Achebe teaches at Bard College in Annandale. He moved to the United States for medical treatment after a 1990 automobile accident left him paralysed below the waist.
"I should be in Nigeria if things were right. That's where my work is," he said. "If things changed ... I would go back very, very quickly."
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_West%20Africa&set_id=1&click_id=86&art_id=nw20070629091257855C503392
New York - For Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe, winner of the Man Booker International Prize, the honour means the world has heard the stories he felt he needed to tell about his struggling homeland.
Achebe, often called the father of modern African literature, says he set out 50 years ago to write in the voice of an African, not of a white ruler or colonial power.
His first effort became his most acclaimed book, "Things Fall Apart," published in 1958. It has sold more than 10 million copies and been translated into 50 languages.
"I write to be read and to be acknowledged," said Achebe, 76, in an interview at his home in Annandale, New York.
"It means what I have written has made some impact somewhere and I think this is why we're in the business of writing. We want to tell our story."
The Man Booker International Prize is awarded every two years to an author for a body of work that has contributed significantly to world literature.
The awards ceremony was slated for Thursday in Oxford, England, but Achebe said the journey would have been too strenuous.
Other of his works include "Arrow of God" and "Anthills of the Savannah." His writing centres on politics, the depiction of Africa in the West and the effects of colonisation.
"Fifty years ago I looked around and I didn't see my story among all the stories around, so something in me demanded that I do something about it," Achebe said.
Other books gave no language to Africans, he said, citing Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness."
"There's altogether about six words in the entire book spoken by Africans," he said. "Otherwise they are shrieking or howling or making some animal noises."
Africa, today and in his books, struggles in its transition to self-rule, Achebe said.
"The people have lost the habit of ruling themselves so they can't just get up one morning and say, 'OK, now I can rule myself'," he said.
"The consequences of colonisation don't disappear the day you celebrate independence."
Educated in Nigeria and London, Achebe joined the Nigerian Broadcasting Company in 1954. He served as a diplomat for the Biafran government in the late 1960s.
In 2004, he refused to accept the Commander of the Federal Republic, Nigeria's second-highest honour, in protest against conditions in his country.
Nigeria, he said, "disappoints" him.
"Nigeria is suffering from bad government," he said. "We have not been fortunate to produce a leader who says, 'I want to work for my people. I want to make this place better'."
Achebe teaches at Bard College in Annandale. He moved to the United States for medical treatment after a 1990 automobile accident left him paralysed below the waist.
"I should be in Nigeria if things were right. That's where my work is," he said. "If things changed ... I would go back very, very quickly."
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_West%20Africa&set_id=1&click_id=86&art_id=nw20070629091257855C503392