NIGERIA: Thousands attend the funeral of Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe in his home town of Ogidi. Achebe died in March at the age of 82

Record ID: 236081

  • Title: NIGERIA: Thousands attend the funeral of Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe in his home town of Ogidi. Achebe died in March at the age of 82
  • Date: 23rd May 2013
  • Summary: OGIDI, ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA (MAY 23, 2013) (REUTERS) CROWDS GATHERING FOR STATE BURIAL VARIOUS OF PHOTOGRAPH OF CHINUA ACHEBE
  • Embargoed: 7th June 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nigeria
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz,Obituaries,People
  • Reuters ID: LVA3K26JYT4KW4R5APOO1D0VRB5R
  • Story Text: Thousands of Nigerians from all over the country gathered in the south-eastern state of Anambra on Thursday (May 23) to celebrate the life of the late novelist Chinua Achebe, a writer widely seen as the grandfather of modern African literature.
    Achebe died in the United States in March. On Thursday, he was given a state burial in his home town that was attended by government officials, family and friends.
    During the funeral service, Ghanaian president John Dramani Mahama paid tribute to Achebe.

    "Thank you, Professor Chinua Achebe, for showing us that that can be done and helping us to do it ourselves. God truly blessed us with your presence in this world. May God continue to bless your family and your loved ones even in the midst of your absence and through the depth of their grief."

    "I was not privileged to have direct interactions with Chinua Achebe when he was alive. But I was delighted with people like him who are so involved in academics," Nigeria's president Goodluck Jonathan told the congregation.
    From the publication of his first novel, "Things Fall Apart", over 50 years ago, Achebe shaped an understanding of Africa from an African perspective more than any other author.
    As a novelist, poet, broadcaster and lecturer, Achebe was a yardstick against which generations of African writers have been judged. For children across Africa, his books have for decades been an eye-opening introduction to the power of literature.
    Achebe's "Things Fall Apart", published in 1958, told of his Igbo ethnic group's fatal brush with British colonizers in the 1800s - the first time the story of European colonialism had been told from an African viewpoint to an international audience. The book was translated into 50 languages and has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide.
    He later turned his sights on the devastation wrought to Nigeria and Africa by military coups and entrenched dictatorship.
    “"Anthills of the Savannah," published in 1987, is set after a coup in a fictional African country, where power has corrupted and state brutality silenced all but the most courageous.
    The pain at Achebe's death was felt across Nigeria, and particularly in the southeastern homeland of the Igbos.
    In 1972, Achebe moved to Massachusetts and since then spent much of his time in the United States, with occasional spells in Nigeria.
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