There Was a Country

It has the tense narrative grip of the best fiction. It is also a revelatory entry into the intimate character of the writer’s brilliant mind and bold spirit. Achebe has created here a new genre of literature – Nadine GordimerEngrossing … an elegy from a master storyteller who has witnessed the undulating fortunes of a nation … his strongest expressions are his poems, scattered between chapters, offering affecting interludes – Noo Saro-Wiwa * Guardian *Matchless … what a man; what a life – Giles Foden * Daily Telegraph *Part-history, part-memoir, [Achebe’s] moving account of the war is laced with anger, but there is also an abiding tone of regret for what Nigeria might have been without conflict and mismanagement * Sunday Times *A blend of historical overview, personal memoir and political manifesto … fascinating * Evening Standard *

Chinua Achebe was born in Nigeria in 1930. He published novels, short stories, essays, and children’s books. His volume of poetry, Christmas in Biafra, was the joint winner of the first Commonwealth Poetry Prize. Of his novels, Arrow of God won the New Statesman-Jock Campbell Award, and Anthills of the Savannah was a finalist for the 1987 Booker Prize. Things Fall Apart, Achebe’s masterpiece, has been published in fifty different languages and has sold more than ten million copies. Achebe lectured widely, receiving many honors from around the world. He was the recipient of the Nigerian National Merit Award, Nigeria’s highest award for intellectual achievement. In 2007, he won the Man Booker International Prize. He died in March 2013.