Achebe bags ‘lifetime achievement’ award from the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation
Special to USAfrica The Newspaper, Houston
USAfricaonline.com, The Black Business Journal and Class
One of the world’s preeminent writers and internationally acclaimed author, Prof. Chinua Achebe, has bagged the North Star Award – for lifetime achievement – from the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation, created by in conjunction with Borders Books and Music. The Hurston/Wright Legacy Award honors Black writers in the categories of fiction, debut fiction, and nonfiction, and honors African and African-American writers for literary excellence.
The event was held in 2002 in Washington, DC, and Prof. Achebe’s son, Dr. Ike Achebe, accepted the award on his behalf. Achebe who holds a Ph.D from Cambridge University in Engand said his father was “deeply honored for the important recognition from the African literary diaspora.”
He underscored Prof. Achebe’s support of young writers and encouraged more African writers to submit their work to the Hurston Wright Foundation competitions for consideration in the future.
The ceremony was hosted by NBC’s Law and Order star, S. Epatha Merkson. Among the biggest stars of African-American literature who came out for the dinner and Oscar-style awards ceremony were Terry McMillan, the doyenne of commercial fiction who inspired a generation of African American writers, novelists E. Lynn Harris and Connie Briscoe, and memoirist Nathan McCall.
The winners of the awards were presented in a ceremony recently at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of American History. Ken Wiwa emerged as one of the winners of the evening.
The Hyattsville, Maryland-based foundation was started by famed author Marita Golden to develop, nurture and sustain the world community of writers of African descent.
According to the organizers “The Hurston/Wright Legacy Award was created to address the lack of public recognition for Black writers. The winners in each category will be awarded a cash prize of $10,000.”
Achebe, author of the timeless classic, Things Fall Apart, has won almost a dozen awards this year 2002 for literary distinctions, including the prestigious German Book Prize.
