Chinua Achebe, There was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra

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Chinua Achebe is Africa’s foremost novelist and one of the African World’s most outstanding intellectuals. The 1958 publication of his classic,

Things Fall Apart

,underscores the African-centred thrust of Achebe’s esteemed literary journey. In

There was a Country

, Achebe revisits the 1966-1970 Igbo genocide, the foundational genocide of post-(European) conquest Africa. It is also Africa’s most expansive and devastating genocide of the 20th century, in which 3.1 million Igbo or a quarter of this nation’s population were murdered. Achebe himself narrowly escaped capture by the genocidist army in Lagos where he worked as director of the external service of Nigeria’s public broadcasting corporation.

Safely back in Biafra, Achebe was appointed roving cultural ambassador by the

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Citation: Ekwe Ekwe, Herbert. "There was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 October 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=34707, accessed 19 March 2024.]

34707 There was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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