Título: Chinua Achebe
Seção: Voice of Nigeria and African Writers Series
Background: Chinua Achebe (, born Albert Chinualumogu Achebe; (16 November 1930 - 21 March 2013) was a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic. His first novel Things Fall Apart (1958), often considered his best, is the most widely read book in modern African literature. He won the Man Booker International Prize in 2007. Raised by his parents in the Igbo town of Ogidi in southeastern Nigeria, Achebe excelled at school and won a scholarship to study medicine, but changed his studies to English literature at University College (now the University of Ibadan).

Conteúdo: Once he returned to Nigeria, Achebe was promoted at the NBS to the position of Director of External Broadcasting. One of his first duties was to help create the Voice of Nigeria network. The station broadcast its first transmission on New Year's Day 1962, and worked to maintain an objective perspective during the turbulent era immediately following independence. This objectivity was put to the test when Nigerian Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa declared a state of emergency in the Western Region, responding to a series of conflicts between officials of varying parties. Achebe became saddened by the evidence of corruption and silencing of political opposition.  In 1962 he attended an executive conference of African writers in English at the Makerere University College in Kampala, Uganda. He met with important literary figures from around the continent and the world, including Ghanaian poet Kofi Awoonor, Nigerian playwright and poet Wole Soyinka, and US poet-author Langston Hughes. Among the topics of discussion was an attempt to determine whether the term African literature ought to include work from the diaspora, or solely that writing composed by people living within the continent itself. Achebe indicated that it was not "a very significant question", and that scholars would do well to wait until a body of work were large enough to judge. Writing about the conference in several journals, Achebe hailed it as a milestone for the literature of Africa, and highlighted the i

user: What does the voice of Nigeria mean?

assistant: One of his first duties was to help create the Voice of Nigeria network. The station broadcast its first transmission on New Year's Day 1962,

user: What did he do there?

assistant: Director of External Broadcasting.

user: What is the writers series?

assistant: Writing about the conference in several journals, Achebe hailed it as a milestone for the literature of Africa,

user: What kinds of things did they talk about at the conference?

assistant: Among the topics of discussion was an attempt to determine whether the term African literature ought to include work from the diaspora,

user: What else did they discuss?

assistant: solely that writing composed by people living within the continent itself.

user: How did he feel about the subject?

assistant: Writing about the conference in several journals, Achebe hailed it as a milestone for the literature of Africa,

user: What else did he have to say?

assistant: highlighted the importance of community among isolated voices on the continent and beyond.

user: What else did he do during this time?

assistant: While at Makerere, Achebe was asked to read a novel written by a student (James Ngugi, later known as Ngugi wa Thiong'o) called Weep Not, Child.

user: Did he like it?

assistant: Impressed, he sent it to Alan Hill at Heinemann, which published it two years later