He attended University College in Ibadan, where he studied English, history and theology. During the civil war, he worked for the Biafran government. He writes in English, and is one of Africa's most acclaimed writers.

Works

• Things Fall Apart, 1958
  
• No Longer at Ease, 1960
  
• The Sacrificial Egg and Other Stories, 1962
  
• Arrow of God, 1964
  
• A Man of the People, 1966
  
• Chike and the River, 1966
  
• Beware, Soul-Brother, and Other Poems, 1971
  
• How the Leopard Got His Claws (with John Iroaganachi), 1972
  
• Girls at War, 1973
  
• Christmas at Biafra, and Other Poems, 1973
  
• Morning Yet on Creation Day, 1975
  
• The Flute, 1975
  
• The Drum, 1978
  
• The Trouble With Nigeria, 1984
  
• African Short Stories, 1984
  
• Anthills of the Savannah, 1988
  
• Hopes and Impediments, 1988
  

In 1990 he was paralysed from the waist down in a car accident. He currently teaches at Bard College in Annandale, New York.