Africa Day Book Club

To mark Africa Day , Irish Aid is encouraging book clubs and individual readers throughout the country to engage with one great work of African literature: the novel ‘Things Fall Apart’ by the renowned Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe.


Readers of ‘Things Fall Apart’ can also share their opinions on the novel on the Africa Day Facebook page.

 

About "Things Fall Apart"

First published in 1958, ‘Things Fall Apart’ has sold over 10 million copies in 45 languages.  The novel tells the story of Okonkwo, a famous wrestler and warrior whose fame has spread throughout West Africa.  Proud and hard-working, Okonkwo shows no weakness, emotionally or physically, not even to his family. 

 

Okonkwo is held in great esteem amongst the people of his village.  However, his life begins to unravel when he accidentally kills another member of his tribe at a ritual funeral ceremony, forcing his village elders to send him and his family into exile for seven long years.  While he is in exile, missionaries and colonial officers come to Okonkwo’s village, introducing their religion and way of life. 

 

When he returns from exile, Okonkwo finds his village to be a vastly different place.  His reaction to the changes sets in motion a devastating chain of events for Okonkwo and his family.

About Chinua Achebe

 One of the founding fathers of African literature, Chinua Achebe was born in an Igbo village in Ogidi, Nigeria in 1930.  Raised by Christian parents, Chinua was a studious child who excelled at academics, earning a scholarship for his undergraduate studies at University College Ibadan, an associate of the University of London, where he spent his first year studying medicine.  He then switched his programme of study to English, History and Theology. 

After graduating from University College Ibadan in 1953, Achebe started writing the critically acclaimed and award-winning novel ‘Things Fall Apart’, which was published in 1958.  Since then, Achebe has won numerous prizes and awards for his work, including:

 

-         The Commonwealth Poetry Prize.

-         The Nigerian National Order of Merit.

-         The International Nonino Prize from Italy.

-         The Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, and

 

In 2007, Achebe was awarded the Man Booker International Prize in recognition of his contribution to world literature.  In 2009, he was named the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University in the United States, where he teaches today.

 

Further information on Chinua Achebe is available here. 

 

Additional information on ‘Things Fall Apart’ and its famous author is also available here.