Chinua Achebe books

African Trilogy Reading Order

African Writers Reading Order

Anthologies

Children’s Reading Order

Collections

Non-Fiction

Short Stories/Novellas

Standalone Novels

Chinua Achebe was born in Ogidi, Nigeria in 1930 and became one of the most important writers of the twentieth century. His first novel, Things Fall Apart, was published in 1958 and told the story of an Igbo community’s encounter with British colonialism. The book has been translated into more than 50 languages and sold over 20 million copies. It changed how African stories were told in English-language literature, offering a perspective from inside the culture rather than the outsider viewpoint that had dominated colonial-era writing.

Achebe’s work spans fiction, poetry, children’s books, essays, and editorial projects. His African Trilogy (Things Fall Apart, No Longer at Ease, Arrow of God) remains his best-known fiction, but novels like A Man of the People and Anthills of the Savannah also received wide attention. As an editor and anthologist, he played a major role in building the Heinemann African Writers Series, which published hundreds of African authors. His nonfiction, from Morning Yet on Creation Day to There Was a Country, directly challenged Western representations of Africa, most famously in his essay criticizing Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Achebe died in 2013, leaving behind a body of work that continues to shape how African literature is read and taught around the world.