Once again, Nigeria’s ace novelist, and one of Africa’s finest writers, Professor Chinua Achebe, will be walking the hallways in dignity to receive an international award he richly deserves. He was on Wednesday (June 13,2007) named winner of the 2007 Man Booker International Prize, after beating contenders including Britain’s Doris Lessing, Ian McEwan, and Salman Rushdie, Ireland’s John Banville, two Americans, Philip Roth and Don DeLillo, three Canadians, Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro, and Michael Ondaatje, and the dissident Israeli, Amos Oz.
The prize, which was first awarded to the Albanian writer, Ismail Kadar, in 2005, is given every two years to a living author that has significantly contributed to world literature. It also aims to recognise a writer’s enduring creativity and progress on the world scale.
Achebe, 76, will receive the cash prize and trophy at the award ceremony on June 28 in Oxford, England.
"It was 50 years ago this year that I began writing my first novel, Things Fall Apart. It is wonderful to hear that my peers have looked at the body of work I have put together in the last 50 years and judged it deserving of this important award. I am grateful," Achebe is quoted as saying.
His fellow Nigerians are also grateful, as they took in every piece of the precious news with pride.
"He deserves it more than anybody at this time," former president of Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Odia Ofeimun, says of the award won by Achebe. "There is a distinctive quality to his literary performance which makes him stand out. You don’t need to be a Nigerian to appreciate it," he says.
Professor Achebe is the author of the great book:THINGS FALL APART.
Integrity Projects is happy to associate with this gigantic success.Many happy wishes to Chinua Achebe.
No comments:
Post a Comment