Chinua Achebe is the father of modern African writing. He has been writing fiction and essays over the past 50 years, and stands out, arguably, as the most reviewed Nigerian writer. In 1992, he became the first living author to be represented in the Everyman's Library collection published by Alfred A. Knopf. His 60th birthday was celebrated at the University of Nigeria; Nsukka (UNN) by the International Who's Who in African Literature. One observer noted: "Nothing like it had ever happened before in African literature anywhere on the continent."
Novelist Margaret Atwood called him "a magical writer one of the greatest of the 20'h century." Poet Maya Angelou lauded Achebe's Things Fall Apart as a book wherein "all readers meet their brothers, sisters, parents and friends and themselves along Nigerian roads."
