Google, on Thursday paid respect to Chinua Achebe , the late literary icon with a Google doodle on its home page, to mark his 87h birthday.
The technology giant on its tweeter handle @googleafrica said Achebe touched many lives with his words.
“Today we celebrate Chinua Achebe ’s 87th birthday. Considered by many to be the father of modern African literature, Achebe has touched many lives with his words #GoogleDoodle.
Born Albert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe, the literary icon often described as the father of modern African literature, died in March 2013, in the United States of America, aged 82.
His first novel Things Fall Apart, often considered his best, is the most widely read book in modern African literature.
Achebe who won the Man Booker International Prize in 2007, was fascinated with world religions and traditional African cultures, and began writing stories as a university student.
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After graduation, he worked for the Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBS).
His later novels include No longer at Ease, Arrow of God, A man of the People andAnthills of the Savannah.
Achebe wrote his novels in English and defended the use of English, a “language of colonizers,” in African literature.
In 1975, his lecture, An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness,’’ featured a famous criticism of Joseph Conrad as “a thoroughgoing racist” was later published in The Massachusetts Review amid some controversy.
In 2004 and 2011, Achebe rejected the government’s offer to name him Commander of the Federal Republic, one of Nigeria’s very highest honours.
Achebe cited unchecked corruption in government as his reason for turning down the awards.
(NAN)
