Chinua Achebe was a Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic who is regarded as a central figure of modern African literature. His first novel and magnum opus, Things Fall Apart (1958), occupies a pivotal place in African literature and remains the most widely studied, translated, and read African novel. Along with Things Fall Apart, his No Longer at Ease (1960) and Arrow of God (1964) complete the "African Trilogy". Later novels include A Man of the People (1966) and Anthills of the Savannah (1987). In the West, Achebe is often referred to as the "father of African literature", although he vigorously rejected the characterization.
Christopher Ifekandu Okigbo was a Nigerian poet, teacher, and librarian, who died fighting for the independence of Biafra. He is today widely acknowledged as an outstanding postcolonial English-language African poet and one of the major modernist writers of the 20th century.
Nigerian literature may be roughly defined as the literary writing by citizens of the nation of Nigeria for Nigerian readers, addressing Nigerian issues. This encompasses writers in a number of languages, including not only English but Igbo, Urhobo, Yoruba, and in the northern part of the county Hausa and Nupe. More broadly, it includes British Nigerians, Nigerian Americans and other members of the African diaspora.
Alan Scholefield was a South African writer famous for his Macrae and Silver series.
Ebonyi State is a state in the South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered to the north and northeast by Benue State, Enugu State to the west, Cross River State to the east and southeast, and Abia State to the southwest. Named for the Abonyi (Aboine) River—a large part of which is in the state's south—Ebonyi State was formed from parts of Abia and Enugu state in 1996 and has its capital as Abakaliki.
Chief Cyprian Odiatu Duaka Ekwensi was a Nigerian author of novels, short stories, and children's books.
Elechi Amadi was a Nigerian author and soldier. He was a former member of the Nigerian Armed Forces. He was an author of plays and novels that are generally about African village life, customs, beliefs, and religious practices prior to contact with the Western world. Amadi is best regarded for his 1966 debut novel, The Concubine, which has been called "an outstanding work of pure fiction".
Alexander Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme was a Nigerian politician who served as the first elected vice president of Nigeria from 1979 to 1983 during the Second Nigerian Republic under President Shehu Shagari as a member of the National Party of Nigeria.
Florence Nwanzuruahu Nkiru Nwapa, was a Nigerian author who has been called the mother of modern African Literature. She was the forerunner to a generation of African women writers, and the first African woman novelist to be published in the English language in Britain. She achieved international recognition with her first novel Efuru, published in 1966 by Heinemann Educational Books. While never considering herself a feminist, she was best known for recreating life and traditions from an Igbo woman's viewpoint.
Chief Horst Ulrich Beier, commonly known as Ulli Beier, was a German editor, writer and scholar who had a pioneering role in developing literature, drama and poetry in Nigeria, as well as literature, drama and poetry in Papua New Guinea.
Bankole Ajibabi Omotoso, also known as Kole Omotoso, was a Nigerian writer and intellectual best known for his works of fiction and in South Africa as the "Yebo Gogo man" in adverts for the telecommunications company Vodacom. His written work is known for its dedication and commitment to fusing a socio-political reappraisal of Africa and respect for human dignity into most of his works.
The Ikwerre are an indigenous igboid ethnic group in Rivers State, Nigeria. The Ikwerre ethnic group in Rivers State, spans over four Local Government Areas; Port Harcourt, Obio Akpor, Ikwerre, and Emohua.
Government College Umuahia, or GCU, is an independent secondary school for boys located on Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene road in Umuahia, Nigeria.
Ekwueme Michael Thelwell is a Jamaican novelist, essayist, professor and civil rights activist. He was in 1970 founding chairman of the Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
John Cross Anyogu was a Nigerian clergyman who, on 9 June 1957, became the first member of his Igbo community to be consecrated a Roman Catholic priest and later a Roman Catholic bishop. He was also the first Igbo to be ordained a priest in 1930 and the first bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Enugu which was created in 1963, the year of his installation. Through his efforts Enugu became a very important Catholic mission centre overseeing several thousand Christians in and around the town. His parish has the largest concentration of Catholics in Nigeria, second only to Owerri parish.
The Port Harcourt Book Festival is an annual literary event in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria, organised by the Rainbow Book Club and endorsed by the Rivers State Government since 2008. The Garden City Literary Festival, which is currently known as the Port Harcourt Book Festival was founded by Governor Amaechi of Rivers State, Hundreds of literary fans flock to the Garden City every year for this six-day event, which includes a book fair, writers' workshops, and a variety of other activities. In the past the Festival has been attended by recognized authors and has hosted a number of celebrities.
Burning Grass is a novel by Nigerian author Cyprian Ekwensi. It was published in 1962 as the second book in Heinemann's African Writers Series.
Idu is a 1970 novel and the second novel put out by Nigerian novelist Flora Nwapa. The book centers around Idu, a young woman in a Nigerian village whose husband has died, and her efforts to be reunited with him. The novel has been seen as one of Nwapa's more controversial works for its focus on Idu's reliance on her husband.
Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo is a Nigerian author and educator, whose published work includes novels, poetry, short stories, books for children, essays and journalism. She is the winner of several awards in Nigeria, including the Nigeria Prize for Literature.
A concubine is a woman who lives with and has sexual relations with a man but is not in a marital relationship with him. See Concubinage.
