Chinua Achebe was born in 1930 and educated at Government College in Umuahia and the University College of Ibadan, Nigeria. He received a BA from London University in 1953 and in 1956 studied broadcasting in London at the BBC. He joined the Nigerian Broadcasting Company in Lagos in 1954, later becoming its Director of External Broadcasting. During the Civil War in Nigeria he worked for the Biafran government service.
After the War he was appointed Senior Research Fellow at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, of which he is now Emeritus Professor of English. He has lectured at many universities worldwide and is now Charles P. Stevenson Jr Professor of Languages and Literature at Bard College, New York. Chinua Achebe has written over twenty books, including novels, short stories, essays and collections of poetry, including Things Fall Apart (1958); Arrow of God (1964), winner of the New Statesman/Jock Campbell Award; A Man of the People (1966); Beware, Soul Brother and Other Poems (1971), winner of the Commonwealth Poetry Prize; Christmas in Biafra and Other Poems (1973); The Trouble with Nigeria (1983); Anthills of the Savannah (1987), which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize; Hopes and Impediments: Selected Essays (1988); and Home and Exile (2ooo).
Biyi Bandele is a playwright, screenwriter and novelist. His play Aphra Behn's Oroonoko premiered at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon and he has various film credits to his name. His third novel, The Street, set in Brixton, south London, was published in 1999. He was the Judith E. Wilson Fellow at Churchill College, University of Cambridge, in 2000-2001. He was born and raised in Nigeria, and now lives in London.
After the War he was appointed Senior Research Fellow at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, of which he is now Emeritus Professor of English. He has lectured at many universities worldwide and is now Charles P. Stevenson Jr Professor of Languages and Literature at Bard College, New York. Chinua Achebe has written over twenty books, including novels, short stories, essays and collections of poetry, including Things Fall Apart (1958); Arrow of God (1964), winner of the New Statesman/Jock Campbell Award; A Man of the People (1966); Beware, Soul Brother and Other Poems (1971), winner of the Commonwealth Poetry Prize; Christmas in Biafra and Other Poems (1973); The Trouble with Nigeria (1983); Anthills of the Savannah (1987), which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize; Hopes and Impediments: Selected Essays (1988); and Home and Exile (2ooo).
Biyi Bandele is a playwright, screenwriter and novelist. His play Aphra Behn's Oroonoko premiered at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon and he has various film credits to his name. His third novel, The Street, set in Brixton, south London, was published in 1999. He was the Judith E. Wilson Fellow at Churchill College, University of Cambridge, in 2000-2001. He was born and raised in Nigeria, and now lives in London.
