We don't want to be simply wandering about without some kind of reason, we want our presence here to have a purpose, and that we are not going to end here, we are going to proceed somewhere else, and also that we didn't begin here, that we began somewhere else and all that living, all that elaborate account of our presence seems to be quite basic to our nature and so this is what literacy taps into.
Chinua AchebeWhat you must accept is that your life is not going to be the same while you are writing.
Chinua AchebeThe Novelist As Teacherโ: โI would be quite satisfied if my novels (especially the ones I set in the past) did no more than teach my readers that their past โ with all its imperfections โ was not one long night of savagery from which the first Europeans acting on Godโs behalf delivered them.
Chinua AchebeI think an artist, in my definition of that word, would not be someone who takes sides with the emperor against his powerless subjects. That's different from prescribing a way in which a writer should write.
Chinua AchebeWriting has always been a serious business for me. I felt it was a moral obligation. A major concern of the time was the absence of the African voice. Being part of that dialogue meant not only sitting at the table but effectively telling the African story from an African perspective - in full earshot of the world.
Chinua Achebe