The Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) has concluded plans to celebrate ten years after foremost writer and its founder Chinua Achebe’s death.
The Camillus Eboh-led association has invited authors, writers and critics, members of the literati across the globe as well as the general public to attend the event on Saturday in Abuja.
In a press release he made available to New Citizen, the Secretary General of the association, Maik Otserga, said: “The event, which will have a virtual component to enable those from far and wide participate, will physically hold at the Chinua Achebe International Conference Centre (CAICC) at Mamman Vatsa Writers’ Village, Mpape, Abuja, as from 19th – 21st May, 2023.”
He disclosed that the theme of the event is, “The Immortality of Creativity: Ten Years After Achebe’s Transition”.
Details of the event also indicated that in the evening of Day One, which is Friday, there will be “tributes and reminiscences on the legend, Chinua Achebe”.
Day Two, divided into two sessions, will consist of the Mbari Series in the morning, which is styled “Open Conversation between the old and the young writers on the immortality of creativity,” while the evening session is titled “Open Conversation between the old and the young writers on ten years after Achebe’s Transition”.
A dinner is scheduled to hold between 7:30 – 8, while Sunday, May 21, 2023 is departure day.
Albert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe was born on November 16, 1930 in Ogidi, Anambra State.
The celebrated author of Things Fall Apart (1958) is regarded as the founding father of African literature in English. He was the winner of several awards and prizes, including the 2007 Man Booker International Prize.
He was Professor of African Studies at Brown University in the United States of America, from 2009 until his death in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 21, 2013.
He was buried in his hometown on May 22, 2013 amidst great mourning. President Goodluck Jonathan and Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama were among those who attended the funeral.