Verdict: big, big carrot
Chinua Achebe, one of Africa’s greatest writers, has received very little recognition from those who grant the world’s prestigious literary awards. The Man Booker’s lifetime award, its International Prize for fiction, was conferred on him as recently as 2007 but the grand acknowledgement, the Nobel Prize, eludes him still.
Yet, if world acclaim has been restrained, in Africa adulation has come in simple yet complete ways. In his native Nigeria Achebe (80) is affectionately known as the Eagle on Iroko. Two potent images: the majestic eagle, king of the birds of prey, and the iroko, a giant tree native to West Africa and considered to be sacred.
The Education of a British-Protected Child (Penguin), his new collection of essays, confirms his cultural and political importance to Africa and the rest of the world. Achebe’s oeuvre, comprising poetry, short stories, children’s books, essays and fiction, includes the much-adored Things Fall Apart, the majestic Arrow of God and the essay collection Hopes and Impediments.
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