Achebe, Chinua

Nigerian writer born in the Igbo town of Ogidi, South-East Nigeria. His parents, Isaiah Okafor Achebe and Janet Ileogbunam, christened him Albert after Queen Victoria’s husband. Achebe’s father taught at a missionary school and Achebe was brought up a protestant. He read English, history and theology at the University of Ibadan starting in 1948 and graduating in 1953. He dropped his colonial first name, adopted the Nigerian name Chinua and embarked on a writing career. He frequently published essays and short stories in the University Herald.