The BBC reports that Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, best known for his 1958 novel THINGS FALL APART, has won the Man Booker International Prize in honor of his literary career. The 76-year-old author beat out an impressive roster of writers including Ian McEwan, Margaret Atwood and Salman Rushdie for the 60,000 pound biannual prize, which will be presented to Achebe at a ceremony in Oxford on June 28.
Academic and author Elaine Showalter, who was one of the judges, said: “In THINGS FALL APART and his other fiction set in Nigeria, Chinua Achebe inaugurated the modern African novel. He also illuminated the path for writers around the world seeking new words and forms for new realities and societies. We honour his literary example and achievements.” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who recently won the Orange Prize for Fiction, said of Achebe: “He is a remarkable man. The writer and the man. He’s what I think writers should be.”