Chinua Achebe
Chinua Achebe
Chinua Achebewas a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic. His first novel Things Fall Apartwas considered his magnum opus, and is the most widely read book in modern African literature...
NationalityNigerian
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth16 November 1930
CityOgidi, Nigeria
CountryNigeria
writing night people
I am not an early-morning person; I don't like to get out of bed, and so I don't begin writing at five A.M., though some people, I hear, do. I write once my day has started. And I can work late into the night, also.
trying done kind
I prefer to go on trying all kinds of things, not to be told, This is the way it is done.
trouble novel incomplete
There are things the story must have or else look incomplete. And these will almost automatically present themselves. When they don't, you are in trouble and then the novel stops.
writing teach
I wouldn't have wanted anyone to teach me how to write. That's my own taste. I prefer to stumble on it.
discipline trying
Generally, I don't attempt to produce a certain number of words a day. The discipline is to work whether you are producing a lot or not, because the day you produce a lot is not necessarily the day you do your best work. So it's trying to do it as regularly as you can without making it - without imposing too rigid a timetable on your self. That would be my ideal.
literature easy teach
I teach literature. That's easy for me. Take someone else's work and talk about it.
pens
A pen on paper is the ideal way for me. I am not really very comfortable with machines; I never learned to type very well.
people advice done
Once you have really done all you can, then you can show it to people. But I find this is increasingly not the case with the younger people. They do a first draft and want somebody to finish it off for them with good advice.
leaders nigerians
Nigerians are what they are because their leaders are not what they should be
thinking people literature
You don't ever want to say to a young person, You can't, or, You are no good. Some people might be able to do it, but I don't think I am a policeman for literature. So I tell them, Sweat it out, do your best.
important failing values
It has always been quite apparent to me that no important story can fail to tell us something of value to us.
impression typing
When I was in England, I had seen advertisements about typing agencies; I had learned that if you really want to make a good impression, you should have your manuscript well typed.
slave trading
Poetry and slave trading cannot be bedfellows. That's where I stand.
racism humanity impossible
This is why I find racism impossible, because this is against humanity.