All Hail: Achebe Wins America's Highest Literature Prize

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AFRICAN literary experience has again received attention on the global stage with iconic novelist, Chinua Achebe, winning the United States of America's most prestigious literature award, the Medal of Honour for Literature.


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In a letter, the Natural Arts Club, the United States sent to The Guardian, said that the honour would be presented to Achebe on November 16, 2007 in New York City. Achebe is the first black African and second black writer to receive this honour.

Achebe was the recipient of the 2007 Man Booker International Prize. He has also won Nigeria 's highest award for intellectual achievement, - the Nigerian National Merit Award - and several other prestigious awards. Renowned novelist and Nobel laureate, Nadine Gordimer says "Achebe is the father of modern African literature who made it an integral part of world literature."

The medal of honour for literature is given for a body of work of literary excellence. The recipient can be a novelist, poet, playwright, memoirist, or biographer. The medal of honour of The National Arts Club honours the achievement of the author chosen yearly by the Literary Committee Members.

The mission of the National Arts Club is to stimulate public interest in the arts and educate the American people in the fine arts.

The National Arts Club was founded in 1898 by Charles de Kay. Charles de Kay was the literary and art critic for The New York Times for 18 years. Together with a group of distinguished artists and patrons, Charles de Kay conceived of a gathering place for artists, patrons and audiences in all the arts. American art at the turn of the century had begun to look inward for inspiration, rather than to Europe, and the American art world was alive with energy. As The National Arts Club moved into its first home in a townhouse on 34th Street, American art had found a new home.

The Club's Membership has included three presidents, and some of the most important artists and arts patrons in America. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and Dwight D. Eisenhower were all members of the National Arts Club.

Past recipients of honour have included some of the most distinguished and important writers of the past 50 years.

Speakers at the Black Tie event where Achebe will be honoured will include Brown University President Ruth Simmons, Distinguished Global Professor in Creative Writing at NYU, Breyten Breytenbach and distinguished Professor of Afro-American studies Michael Thelwell of University of Massachusettes . Master of Ceremonies will be noted musician and Bard College President, Leon Botstein.