The City College of New York, where Professor Achebe was a visiting professor in the 1990s, is honoring the global literary icon with a speaker series in his name. Ghanaian artist Nicole Amarteifio will be the inaugural speaker in the Chinua Achebe Legacy Series debuting Tuesday, September 30, 2014, at The City College of New York. Presented by CCNY’s Black Studies Program, the series honors the late Nigerian writer, academic and critic whose first novel, “Things Fall Apart,” is the most widely read book in modern African literature.
Ms. Amarteifio, creator of the YouTube series “An African City,” will speak 6 – 8 p.m. in the North Academic Center (NAC) ballroom on the City College campus. Her talk is free and open to the public.
Three other speakers, all renowned African writers, are scheduled in the Legacy Series this fall:
October 9, Shepard Hall room 250, 6 – 8 p.m. Kenneth Binyavanga Wainaina, Kenyan author, journalist and winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing. Named by “Time” magazine in April 2014 as one of the 100 “Most Influential People in the World.”
November 6, Amsterdam Room, 12 – 2 p.m. Laila Lalimi, Moroccan novelist and essayist, whose latest book “The Moor’s Account” (Pantheon Books) will be published this month.
December 11, Shepard Hall room 250, 6 – 8 p.m. Sefi Atta, award-winning Nigerian author and playwright, whose books include “A Bit of Difference,” “Swallow” and “Everything Good Will Come.”
Dr. Cheryl Sterling, director of the Black Studies Program in the Division of Humanities and the Arts and an associate professor of English, said the Legacy Series is designed to pay homage to Mr. Achebe, who was once a visiting professor at City College.
In London, on October 4, the Igbo Institute in association with the Centre for African Studies (CAS) at SOAS, University of London, will be hosting a symposium to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of Chinua Achebe’s novel, Arrow of God – described by Achebe as “the novel which I am most likely to be caught sitting down to read again”.
As this year also marks Nigeria’s centenary, both anniversaries have shaped the symposium’s theme; “50 Years of Arrow of God, 100 Years of Nigeria: A Celebration and an Inquest”.
The symposium will bring together writers, academics, publishers and the general public to celebrate Achebe’s important work. It is also tasked with both looking to the past and the future in addressing issues such as the challenges Nigeria has faced and continues to face, the role of Arrow of God in telling Nigeria’s story and drawing links between Arrow of God and contemporary African history. There is an Igbo proverb, often used by Chinua Achebe which states that the man who doesn’t know where the rain began to beat him cannot say where he dried his body
Members of the prestigious Tri-college communities of Haverford, Bryn Mawr, and Swarthmore Colleges are hosting (IR)REVERENCE: a conference in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Chinua Achebe’s novel, Arrow of God from Oct. 6–9 at various arenas and addresses on the beautiful campuses of Pennsylvania, USA, based Haverford, Bryn Mawr, and Swarthmore Colleges.
In 1964 Chinua Achebe published his novel Arrow of God. There have been events across the world celebrating the 50th anniversary of this novel and Haverford, Swarthmore, and Bryn Mawr Colleges are convening a conference in recognition of this landmark text. There will be a series of events across the three campuses featuring participants from a variety of fields in the sciences, humanities, and arts. Guests, students, and faculty will engage in an extended dialogue that begins with the significance of Achebe’s work and extends into the work of young artists and contemporary issues that reverberate with his writing’s influence.
A complete schedule of the conference and more information can be found on Haverford’s website.
This conference is sponsored by Education, Africana Studies, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Grant to Bryn Mawr College for “Creating a Vital and Sustainable Curriculum for the 21st Century” (Bryn Mawr); Center for Peace and Global Citizenship, Hurford Center for Arts and Humanities, Koshland Integrated Natural Science Center, Distinguished Visitors Office, Anthropology, Biology, English, Office of Multicultural Affairs, First Year Writing (Haverford); African Consortium, Black Studies, French and Francophone Studies (Swarthmore)
At Syracuse University in up-state- New York, Professors Mĩcere Gĩthae Mũgo and Herb Ruffin are convening a Symposium in Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God, October 17, 2014. Hosted by the Department of African American Studies at Syracuse University, the symposium is a part of ongoing international commemorations following the passing away of the late Achebe in March 2013, designed to honor his legacy as an icon of African and World literature.
Events around the world in the past year include:
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