fabre4:



have you read Ngugi wa thiongo (weep not child)

iyke649:
All those shouting Wole Soyinka should go for a medical check up

mzzhavilah:
Hmm wrote better u say!u forget dat each writer wit his/her own unique writing style,like Mariama ba So long a letter or Ngugi wa Thiong'o Devil on the cross Amongs oda,so also Achebe got his own unique style.He stands out right.

dapyd1:
You guys forget that we are talking about literature as an art, and using the word 'better' does not capture it.
Depending on the reader, critic or environment the criteria for measuring which writer is better will be entirely different.
Why do humans like putting people in a box by classifying them as better or worse.
We have had a horde of brilliant writers over the past century in the African continent, majority of whom even the OP has not read even if you spend every minute of your life reading.

The question is subjective and can only lead to arguments and counter-arguments.

My two cents though.

Orikinla:
Please, let Chinua Achebe rest in peace. He was among the best, but not the best in Africa. The first black Nobel Prize winner in Literature, Prof. Wole Soyinka remains the greatest African writer, because he excelled in all the genres; plays in drama, essays, critical studies, translations and novels in prose and poetry. Soyinka translated Greek and Yoruba classic works to modern English. The next great writer from Nigeria after Soyinka is from my generation and he is Ben Okri who won the Booker Prize at 32 and no other Nigerian has achieved that literary feat. And what is left for him to win now is the Nobel Prize for Literature. Okri is awesome. I would have been next, but I lost 7 unpublished novels in transit and those novels were written in circumstances that cannot return again.

viickerz:
Ngugi wa thiongo. That man is very underrated . I have not seen any other writer like him.. He is kenyan i think..

Achebe is kinda tribal, soyinka is too turgid ,even in his humor stories.

IkennaNweke:
Which African writer wrote better than Chinua Achebe?

Naija9090:


y0ruba nah...always dragging feet with Igbos as if they are mate! SMH

miftauferrets:
Top 5 African Authors of All Time
1. Chinua
Achebe
Chinua Achebe is
one of the best
African
authors who have
contributed a lot in
the field of African
literature. He was
born in 1930, and
schooled at the
University of Ibadan,
Nigeria. His first
groundbreaking
novel titled ‘Things
Fall Apart” was
published in 1958.
This novel made
Chinua Achebe very
popular and it was
then translated to
over 50 languages
due to its high
demand. Later, he
served as the
professor of David
and Marianna Fisher
University as well as
a professor of
African Studies at
the Brown
University in the
Providence, Rhode
Island. He died early
2013 at the age of
82 years old, in
Boston,
Massachusetts.
2. Wole
Soyinka
Wole Soyinka is also
one of the great
heroes in the list of
top and best African
authors who have
won great awards
and honours in the
world of literature.
He was born in
1934 in Nigeria and
he became the first
African author to be
awarded the Nobel
Prize award in
literature. Late
1950’s, he wrote his
very first important
play titled ‘A Dance
of the Forests’ that
satirizes a fledgling
nation by
highlighting that the
present days is no
longer a golden age
than was in the
past. In some cases,
his writing focuses
on the modern West
Africa in a style of
satire, but his belief
and serious intent
in the evils
fundamentals in the
practice of power
are common in his
present work.
3. Amos
Tutuola
Amos Tutuola was
born in 1920,
Abeokuta in
Western Nigeria and
died in 1997. He
was a self-taught
African author who
usually focused his
literature on the
Yoruba folk tales. He
became popular
after gaining the
world fame with his
best story ‘The Palm-
Wine Drunkard’ that
completed in 1946.
4. Camera
Laye
Camera Laye was
born in 1928 in
Kouroussa, Upper
Guinea and later
died in 1980. He
was the first African
author from
a French-
speaking African
country. His French
novel “L’Enfant noir”
made him one of
the best and
important novelists
from the French-
speaking country in
Africa.
5. Dinaw
Mengestu
Dinaw Mengestu
was also one of the
best African
authors who have
contributed greatly
in the field of
African literature. He
was born in 1978 in
Addis Ababa the
capital city of
Ethiopia. He moved
to the USA together
with his sister and
mother two years
after his birth, to
reunite with his
father who had previously fled the country during the Red Terror. He graduated from Georgetown University. So far, he has written two novels titled “The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears” which was established in 2007 and “How to Read the Air” established in 2010. He also recently received a MacArthur Foundation, usually known as “genius grant”.

IkennaNweke:
Which African writer wrote better than Chinua Achebe?

fixedhollies:
The only writer I can boldly say is better than Achebe and the man keeps me wondering if he was a man! The man is D.O Fagunwa. The man who wrote 'igbo olodumare' only yoruba literature readers can understand.

iyke649:
All those shouting Wole Soyinka should go for a medical check up

dapyd1:
You guys forget that we are talking about literature as an art, and using the word 'better' does not capture it.
Depending on the reader, critic or environment the criteria for measuring which writer is better will be entirely different.
Why do humans like putting people in a box by classifying them as better or worse.
We have had a horde of brilliant writers over the past century in the African continent, majority of whom even the OP has not read even if you spend every minute of your life reading.

The question is subjective and can only lead to arguments and counter-arguments.

My two cents though.

Orikinla:
. Camara Laye was better than Chinua Achebe. And if you have not read Laye, please SHUT UP and don't reply my comment. Too many ignorant comments on this topic by those who don't read.

Orikinla:
. Camara Laye was better than Chinua Achebe. And if you have not read Laye, please SHUT UP and don't reply my comment. Too many ignorant comments on this topic by those who don't read.

dapyd1:
You guys forget that we are talking about literature as an art, and using the word 'better' does not capture it.
Depending on the reader, critic or environment the criteria for measuring which writer is better will be entirely different.
Why do humans like putting people in a box by classifying them as better or worse.
We have had a horde of brilliant writers over the past century in the African continent, majority of whom even the OP has not read even if you spend every minute of your life reading.

The question is subjective and can only lead to arguments and counter-arguments.

My two cents though.