Chinua Achebe

Nigerian · b. 1930

Chinua Achebe wrote Things Fall Apart at 28 to answer the Africa of Conrad — a continent as scenery — with Umuofia: courts, proverbs, harvests, a civilization interrupted mid-sentence. The most-read African novel ever written (20+ million copies, 57 languages) opened world literature's door for a continent, and he held it open as editor and teacher for fifty years.