One of the world's most celebrated writers and author of the classic novel: Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe is dead.
Professor Achebe died late Thursday, March 21 at a hospital in Boston, Massachusetts in the United States of America.
Reports say he had been ill for some time and was only three days ago admitted into hospital. He was eighty two years old.
The death of Chinua Achebe was first reported on Wikipedia and his family is due to issue a statement.
Achebe, widely seen as the grandfather of modern African literature published his first novel, Things Fall Apart, in 1958, a book which has been translated to over 50 languages and has sold more than 10,000,000 copies worldwide.
As a writer, Achebe served as a bridge between Africa and the West and became a yardstick against which generations of African writers have been judged.
Before his demise, Achebe taught Comparative African Literature at Bard College, Boston. He was also a Professor at David and Marianna Fisher University and a professor of Africana studies at Brown University all in the United States of America.
He had been living in the US since 1990 following injuries from a car crash which left him on the wheelchair.
Achebe wrote no book for more than 20 years after the incident, but in 2012, the internationally celebrated Nigerian author published his last book, There Was a Country. The book is a scathing criticism of the injustices done to his Igbo ethnic group during the Nigeria Civil War, and twice Achebe rejected National Awards in protest against mis-governance in Nigeria.
Chinua Achebe hailed from Ogidi in Anambra state.
Tributes
Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan has mourned the passing of the late literary icon, describing him as a teacher, scholar, cultural icon, nationalist, writer and artist of the very first rank."Achebe’s frank, truthful and fearless interventions in national affairs will be greatly missed at home in Nigeria because while others may have disagreed with his views, most Nigerians never doubted his immense patriotism and sincere commitment to the building of a greater, more united and prosperous nation that all Africans and the entire black race could be proud of", says the president in a statement issued by his spokesman, Reuben Abati.
Former South African President, Nelson Mandela describes Chinua Achebe as a writer in whose company the prison walls fell down.
Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka is also devastated by the death of Achebe.
Speaking on Cool FM, a private radio station in Lagos, Soyinka noted he was still in shock by the news of Achebe's demise and, therefore, made no further comments.
The Nigerian Senate has described the death of the literary giant as a great loss to Nigeria and Africa.
Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who was apparently overwhelmed by emotions, described Professor Achebe's death as the "exit of a literary Iroko".
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