Chinua Achebe (1930– ) was born in Nigeria. The son of Christian missionaries, he was educated at the Church Missionary Society school where his father taught until, at 14, he was selected to attend the Government College at Umuahia, one of the best schools in West Africa. Educated in English at the University of Ibadan, Achebe taught for a short time before joining the staff of the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation in Lagos. After cofounding a publishing company, he became a professor of English at the University of Nigeria.

Achebe has said that his duty as an African writer is "to help my society regain belief in itself and put away the complexes of the years of denigration and self-abasement" resulting from British colonialism. His novels include Things Fall Apart (1958), No Longer at Ease (1960), Arrow of God (1964), A Man of the People (1966), and Anthills of the Savannah (1988). His early novels show cultural clashes between traditional Igbo life and British missionaries and government. His later novels deal with corruption and other aspects of postcolonial African life. Achebe has also published collections of short stories, poetry, essays, and books for juvenile readers.