Next Monday, the Unterberg Poetry Center is privileged to welcome back Chinua Achebe, who recently published his first book in more than twenty years—The Education of a British-Protected Child, a collection of autobiographical essays. Mr. Achebe will be in conversation with K. Anthony Appiah, the philosopher and president of the PEN American Center. “For so many readers,” Mr. Appiah once wrote, “it is Chinua Achebe who opened up the magic casements of African fiction.”

In an ongoing effort to share with our readers some of the great literary moments which the Poetry Center has presented across the decades, this blog has begun to feature regular postings of archival recordings by some of the best writers of our time—many of whom, like Mr. Achebe, are returning in the months ahead. To purchase tickets to Monday’s event with Mr. Achebe, please click here. For more information about the rest of the upcoming season, please click here. And for access to other recordings from the Poetry Center archive, please click here.

The year 2008 marked the 50th anniversary of Things Fall Apart. Mr. Achebe’s first appearance at the Poetry Center took place in January of 1994—on Martin Luther King Day. This recording features Mr. Achebe reading an Igbo dirge in King’s honor, as well as excerpts from the novel Anthills of the Savannah and the poem “We Laughed at Him.”

Unterberg Poetry Center webcasts and access to our archive are made possible in part by the generous support of the Sidney E. Frank Foundation.

You can also download the MP3. [16 MB]
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