Coordinates	49°33′21″N20°50′7″N
library name	Library of Congress
library logo
location	Washington, D.C.
established	1800
num branches	N/A
collection size	22,194,656 cataloged books in the Library of Congress classification system 5,600 incunabula (books printed before 1500), monographs and serials, music, bound newspapers, pamphlets, technical reports, and other printed material, and 109,029,796 items in the nonclassified (special) collections 147,093,357 total Items
annual circulation	Library does not publicly circulate
pop served	541 members of the United States Congress, their staff, and members of the public
budget	$613,496,414
director	James H. Billington (Librarian of Congress)
num employees	3,597
website	www.loc.gov }}

The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, ''de facto'' national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and number of books. The head of the Library is the Librarian of Congress, currently James H. Billington.

The Library of Congress was built by Congress in 1800, and was housed in the United States Capitol for most of the 19th century. After much of the original collection had been destroyed during the War of 1812, Thomas Jefferson sold 6,487 books, his entire personal collection, to the library in 1815. After a period of decline during the mid-19th century the Library of Congress began to grow rapidly in both size and importance after the American Civil War, culminating in the construction of a separate library building and the transference of all copyright deposit holdings to the Library. During the rapid expansion of the 20th century the Library of Congress assumed a preeminent public role, becoming a "library of last resort" and expanding its mission for the benefit of scholars and the American people.

The Library's primary mission is researching inquiries made by members of Congress through the Congressional Research Service. Although it is open to the public, only Members of Congress, Supreme Court justices and other high-ranking government officials may check out books. As the ''de facto'' national library, the Library of Congress promotes literacy and American literature through projects such as the American Folklife Center, American Memory, Center for the Book and Poet Laureate.

History

Origins and Jefferson's contribution (1800–1851)

The Library of Congress was established on April 24, 1800, when President John Adams signed an Act of Congress providing for the transfer of the seat of government from Philadelphia to the new capital city of Washington. Part of the legislation appropriated $5,000 "for the purchase of such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress ..., and for fitting up a suitable apartment for containing them...." Books were ordered from London and the collection, consisting of 740 books and 3 maps, was housed in the new Capitol. The collection covered a variety of topics but the bulk of the materials were legal in nature, reflecting Congress' role as a maker of laws.

Thomas Jefferson played an important role in the Library's early formation, signing into law on January 26, 1802, the first law establishing the structure of the Library of Congress. The law established the presidentially appointed post of Librarian of Congress and a Joint Committee on the Library to regulate and oversee the Library, as well as giving the president and vice president the ability to borrow books. The Library of Congress was destroyed in August 1814, when invading British troops set fire to the Capitol building and the small library of 3,000 volumes within.

Within a month, former President Jefferson offered his personal library as a replacement. Jefferson had spent 50 years accumulating a wide variety of books, including ones in foreign languages and volumes of philosophy, science, literature, and other topics not normally viewed as part of a legislative library, such as cookbooks, writing that, "I do not know that it contains any branch of science which Congress would wish to exclude from their collection; there is, in fact, no subject to which a Member of Congress may not have occasion to refer." In January 1815, Congress accepted Jefferson's offer, appropriating $23,950 for his 6,487 books.

Weakening (1851–1865)

The antebellum period was difficult for the Library. During the 1850s the Smithsonian Institution's librarian Charles Coffin Jewett aggressively tried to move that organization towards becoming the United States' national library. His efforts were blocked by the Smithsonian's Secretary Joseph Henry, who advocated a focus on scientific research and publication and favored the Library of Congress' development into the national library. Henry's dismissal of Jewett in July 1854 ended the Smithsonian's attempts to become the national library, and in 1866 Henry transferred the Smithsonian's forty thousand-volume library to the Library of Congress.

On December 24, 1851 the largest fire in the Library's history destroyed 35,000 books, about two–thirds of the Library's 55,000 book collection, including two–thirds of Jefferson's original transfer. Congress in 1852 quickly appropriated $168,700 to replace the lost books, but not for the acquisition of new materials. This marked the start of a conservative period in the Library's administration under Librarian John Silva Meehan and Joint Committee Chairman James A. Pearce, who worked to restrict the Library's activities. In 1857, Congress transferred the Library's public document distribution activities to the Department of the Interior and its international book exchange program to the Department of State. Abraham Lincoln's political appointment of John G. Stephenson as Librarian of Congress in 1861 further weakened the Library; Stephenson's focus was on non-library affairs, including service as a volunteer aide-de-camp at the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg during the American Civil War. By the conclusion of the war, the Library of Congress had a staff of seven for a collection of 80,000 volumes. The centralization of copyright offices into the United States Patent Office in 1859 ended the Library's thirteen year role as a depository of all copyrighted books and pamphlets.

Spofford's expansion (1865–1897)

thumb|left|The Library of Congress inside the [[United States Capitol|U.S. Capitol Building c. 1890]] The Library of Congress reasserted itself during the latter half of the 19th century under Librarian Ainsworth Rand Spofford, who directed the Library from 1865 to 1897. Aided by an overall expansion of the federal government and a favorable political climate, Spofford built broad bipartisan support for the Library as a national library and a legislative resource, began comprehensively collecting Americana and American literature, and led the construction of a new building to house the Library, and transformed the Librarian of Congress position into one of strength and independence. Between 1865 and 1870, Congress appropriated funds for the construction of the Thomas Jefferson Building, placed all copyright registration and deposit activities under the Library's control, and restored the Library's international book exchange. The Library also acquired the vast libraries of both the Smithsonian and historian Peter Force, strengthening its scientific and Americana collections significantly. By 1876, the Library of Congress had 300,000 volumes and was tied with Boston Public Library as the nation's largest library. When the Library moved from the Capitol building to its new headquarters in 1897, it had over 840,000 volumes, 40% of which had been acquired through copyright deposit.

A year before the Library's move to its new location, the Joint Library Committee held a session of hearings to assess the condition of the Library and plan for its future growth and possible reorganization. Spofford and six experts sent by the American Library Association, including future Librarian of Congress Herbert Putnam and Melvil Dewey of the New York State Library, testified before the committee that the Library should continue its expansion towards becoming a true national library. Based on the hearings and with the assistance of Senators Justin Morrill of Vermont and Daniel Voorhees of Indiana, Congress more than doubled the Library's staff from 42 to 108 and established new administrative units for all aspects of the Library's collection. Congress also strengthened the office of Librarian of Congress to govern the Library and make staff appointments, as well as requiring Senate approval for presidential appointees to the position.

Post-reorganization (1897–1939)

The Library of Congress, spurred by the 1897 reorganization, began to grow and develop more rapidly. Spofford's successor John Russell Young, though only in office for two years, overhauled the Library's bureaucracy, used his connections as a former diplomat to acquire more materials from around the world, and established the Library's first assistance programs for the blind and physically disabled. Young's successor Herbert Putnam held the office for forty years from 1899 to 1939, entering into the position two years before the Library became the first in the United States to hold one million volumes. Putnam focused his efforts on making the Library more accessible and useful for the public and for other libraries. He instituted the interlibrary loan service, transforming the Library of Congress into what he referred to as a "library of last resort". Putnam also expanded Library access to "scientific investigators and duly qualified individuals" and began publishing primary sources for the benefit of scholars.

Putnam's tenure also saw increasing diversity in the Library's acquisitions. In 1903 he persuaded President Theodore Roosevelt to transfer by executive order the papers of the Founding Fathers from the State Department to the Library of Congress. Putnam expanded foreign acquisitions as well, including the 1904 purchase of a four-thousand volume library of Indica, the 1906 purchase of G. V. Yudin's eighty-thousand volume Russian library, the 1908 Schatz collection of early opera librettos, and the early 1930s purchase of the Russian Imperial Collection, consisting of 2,600 volumes from the library of the Romanov family on a variety of topics. Collections of Hebraica and Chinese and Japanese works were also acquired. Congress even took the initiative to acquire materials for the Library in one occasion, when in 1929 Congressman Ross Collins of Mississippi successfully proposed the $1.5 million purchase of Otto Vollbehr's collection of incunabula, including one of four remaining perfect vellum copies of the Gutenberg Bible. In 1914 Putnam established the Legislative Reference Service as a separative administrative unit of the Library. Based in the Progressive era's philosophy of science as a problem-solver, and modeled after successful research branches of state legislatures, the LRS would provide informed answers to Congressional research inquiries on almost any topic. In 1965 Congress passed an act allowing the Library of Congress to establish a trust fund board to accept donations and endowments, giving the Library a role as a patron of the arts. The Library received the donations and endowments of prominent individuals such as John D. Rockefeller, James B. Wilbur and Archer M. Huntington. Gertrude Clarke Whittall donated five Stradivarius violins to the Library and Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge's donations paid for a concert hall within the Library of Congress building and the establishment of an honorarium for the Music Division. A number of chairs and consultantships were established from the donations, the most well-known of which is the Poet Laureate Consultant.

The Library's expansion eventually filled the Library's Main Building, despite shelving expansions in 1910 and 1927, forcing the Library to expand into a new structure. Congress acquired nearby land in 1928 and approved construction of the Annex Building (later the John Adams Building) in 1930. Although delayed during the Depression years, it was completed in 1938 and opened to the public in 1939.

Modern history (1939–)

When Putnam retired in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Archibald MacLeish as his successor. Occupying the post from 1939 to 1944 during the height of World War II, MacLeish became the most visible Librarian of Congress in the Library's history. MacLeish encouraged librarians to oppose totalitarianism on behalf of democracy; dedicated the South Reading Room of the Adams Building to Thomas Jefferson, commissioning artist Ezra Winter to paint four themed murals for the room; and established a "democracy alcove" in the Main Reading Room of the Jefferson Building for important documents such as the Declaration, Constitution and Federalist Papers. Even the Library of Congress assisted during the war effort, ranging from the storage of the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution in Fort Knox for safekeeping to researching weather data on the Himalayas for Air Force pilots. MacLeish resigned in 1944 to become Assistant Secretary of State, and President Harry Truman appointed Luther H. Evans as Librarian of Congress. Evans, who served until 1953, expanded the Library's acquisitions, cataloging and bibliographic services as much as the fiscal-minded Congress would allow, but his primary achievement was the creation of Library of Congress Missions around the world. Missions played a variety of roles in the postwar world: the mission in San Francisco assisted participants in the meeting that established the United Nations, the mission in Europe acquired European publications for the Library of Congress and other American libraries, and the mission in Japan aided in the creation of the National Diet Library.

Evans' successor L. Quincy Mumford took over in 1953. Mumford's tenure, lasting until 1974, saw the initiation of the construction of the James Madison Memorial Building, the third Library of Congress building. Mumford directed the Library during a period of increased educational spending, the windfall of which allowed the Library to devote energies towards establishing new acquisition centers abroad, including in Cairo and New Delhi. In 1967 the Library began experimenting with book preservation techniques through a Preservation Office, which grew to become the largest library research and conservation effort in the United States. Mumford's administration also saw the last major public debate about the Library of Congress' role as both a legislative library and a national library. A 1962 memorandum by Douglas Bryant of the Harvard University Library, compiled at the request of Joint Library Committee chairman Claiborne Pell, proposed a number of institutional reforms, including expansion of national activities and services and various organizational changes, all of which would shift the Library more towards its national role over its legislative role. Bryant even suggested possibly changing the name of the Library of Congress, which was rebuked by Mumford as "unspeakable violence to tradition". Debate continued within the library community until the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 shifted the Library back towards its legislative roles, placing greater focus on research for Congress and congressional committees and renaming the Legislative Reference Service to the Congressional Research Service.

After Mumford retired in 1974, Gerald Ford appointed Daniel J. Boorstin as Librarian. Boorstin's first challenge was the move to the new Madison Building, which took place between 1980 and 1982. The move released pressures on staff and shelf space, allowing Boorstin to focus on other areas of Library administration such as acquisitions and collections. Taking advantage of steady budgetary growth, from $116 million in 1975 to over $250 million by 1987, Boorstin actively participated in enhancing ties with scholars, authors, publishers, cultural leaders, and the business community. His active and prolific role changed the post of Librarian of Congress so that by the time he retired in 1987, the ''New York Times'' called it "perhaps the leading intellectual public position in the nation." Ronald Reagan appointed James H. Billington as the thirteenth Librarian of Congress in 1987, a post he holds as of 2011. Billington took advantage of new technological advancements and the Internet to link the Library to educational institutions around the country in 1991. The end of the Cold War also enabled the Library to develop relationships with newly open Eastern European nations, helping them to establish parliamentary libraries of their own.

In the mid-1990s, under Billington's leadership, the Library of Congress began to pursue the development of what it called a "National Digital Library," part of an overall strategic direction that has been somewhat controversial within the library profession. In late November 2005, the Library announced intentions to launch the World Digital Library, digitally preserving books and other objects from all world cultures. In April 2010, it announced plans to archive all public communication on Twitter, including all communication since Twitter's launch in March 2006.

Holdings

The collections of the Library of Congress include more than 32 million cataloged books and other print materials in 470 languages; more than 61 million manuscripts; the largest rare book collection in North America, including the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence, a Gutenberg Bible (one of only four perfect vellum copies known to exist); over 1 million US government publications; 1 million issues of world newspapers spanning the past three centuries; 33,000 bound newspaper volumes; 500,000 microfilm reels; over 6,000 comic book titles; films; 5.3 million maps; 6 million works of sheet music; 3 million sound recordings; more than 14.7 million prints and photographic images including fine and popular art pieces and architectural drawings; the Betts Stradivarius; and the Cassavetti Stradivarius.

The Library developed a system of book classification called Library of Congress Classification (LCC), which is used by most US research and university libraries, although most public libraries continue to use the Dewey decimal system.

The Library serves as a legal repository for copyright protection and copyright registration, and as the base for the United States Copyright Office. Regardless of whether they register their copyright, all publishers are required to submit two complete copies of their published works to the Library if requested—this requirement is known as ''mandatory deposit''. Parties wishing not to publish, need only submit one copy of their work. Nearly 22,000 new items published in the U.S. arrive every business day at the Library. Contrary to popular belief, however, the Library does not retain all of these works in its permanent collection, although it does add an average of 10,000 items per day. Rejected items are used in trades with other libraries around the world, distributed to federal agencies, or donated to schools, communities, and other organizations within the United States. As is true of many similar libraries, the Library of Congress retains copies of every publication in the English language that is deemed significant.

The Library of Congress states that its collection fills about of bookshelves, while the British Library reports about of shelves. The Library of Congress holds about 147 million items with 33 million books against approximately 150 million items with 25 million books for the British Library.

The Library makes millions of digital objects, comprising tens of petabytes, available at its American Memory site. American Memory is a source for public domain image resources, as well as audio, video, and archived Web content. Nearly all of the lists of holdings, the ''catalogs'' of the library, can be consulted directly on its web site. Librarians all over the world consult these catalogs, through the Web or through other media better suited to their needs, when they need to catalog for their collection a book published in the United States. They use the Library of Congress Control Number to make sure of the exact identity of the book.

The Library of Congress also provides an online archive of the proceedings of the U.S. Congress at THOMAS, including bill text, Congressional Record text, bill summary and status, the Congressional Record Index, and the United States Constitution.

The Library also administers the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, a talking and braille library program provided to more than 766,000 Americans.

Buildings of the Library

The Library of Congress is physically housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill and a conservation center in rural Virginia. The Library's Capitol Hill buildings are all connected by underground passageways, so that a library user need pass through security only once in a single visit. The library also has off-site storage facilities for less commonly-requested materials.

Thomas Jefferson Building

The Thomas Jefferson Building is located between Independence Avenue and East Capitol Street on First Street SE. It first opened in 1897 as the main building of the Library and is the oldest of the three buildings. Known originally as the Library of Congress Building or Main Building, it took its present name on June 13, 1980.

John Adams Building

The John Adams Building is located between Independence Avenue and East Capitol Street on 2nd Street SE, the block adjacent to the Jefferson Building. The building was originally built simply as an annex to the Jefferson Building. It opened its doors to the public on January 3, 1939.

James Madison Memorial Building

The James Madison Memorial Building is located between First and Second Streets on Independence Avenue SE. The building was constructed from 1971 to 1976, and serves as the official memorial to President James Madison.

The Madison Building is also home to the Mary Pickford Theater, the "motion picture and television reading room" of the Library of Congress. The theater hosts regular free screenings of classic and contemporary movies and television shows.

Packard Campus for Audio-Visual Conservation

The Packard Campus for Audio-Visual Conservation is the Library of Congress's newest building, opened in 2007 and located in Culpeper, Virginia. It was constructed out of a former Federal Reserve storage center and Cold War bunker. The campus is designed to act as a single site to store all of the library's movie, television, and sound collections. It is named to honor David Woodley Packard, whose Packard Humanities Institute oversaw design and construction of the facility. The centerpiece of the complex is a reproduction Art Deco movie theater that presents free movie screenings to the public on a semi-weekly basis.

Using the Library

The library is open to the general public for academic research and tourists. Only those who are issued a Reader Identification Card may enter the reading rooms and access the collection. The Reader Identification Card is available in the Madison building to persons who are at least 16 years of age upon presentation of a government issued picture identification (e.g. driver's license, state ID card or passport). However, only members of Congress, Supreme Court Justices, their staff, Library of Congress staff and certain other government officials can actually remove items from the library buildings. Members of the general public with Reader Identification Cards must use items from the library collection inside the reading rooms only; they are not allowed to remove library items from the reading rooms or the library buildings.

Since 1902, libraries in the United States have been able to request books and other items through interlibrary loan from the Library of Congress if these items are not readily available elsewhere. Through this, the Library of Congress has served as a "library of last resort", according to former Librarian of Congress Herbert Putnam. The Library of Congress lends books to other libraries with the stipulation that they be used only inside the borrowing library.

The Library of Congress is often used informally in information technology to represent an impressively large quantity of data, when discussing computer storage or networking technologies. One Library of Congress is around 10 terabytes of information.

Librarians of Congress

The Librarian of Congress is the head of the Library of Congress, appointed by the President of the United States with the advice and consent of the Senate. He serves as the chief librarian of all the sections of the Library of Congress. One of the responsibilities of the Librarian of Congress is to appoint the U.S. Poet Laureate.

# John J. Beckley (1802–1807) # Patrick Magruder (1807–1815) # George Watterston (1815–1829) # John Silva Meehan (1829–1861) # John Gould Stephenson (1861–1864) # Ainsworth Rand Spofford (1864–1897) # John Russell Young (1897–1899) # Herbert Putnam (1899–1939) # Archibald MacLeish (1939–1944) # Luther H. Evans (1945–1953) # Lawrence Quincy Mumford (1954–1974) # Daniel J. Boorstin (1975–1987) # James H. Billington (1987–present)

Annual events

Archives Fair

Fellows in American Letters of the Library of Congress

Davidson Fellows Reception

Founder's Day Celebration

Gershwin Prize for Popular Song

Judith P. Austin Memorial Lecture

The National Book Festival

See also

American Folklife Center

British Library

Congressional Research Service

* Federal Research Division

Documents Expediting Project

History of Public Library Advocacy

Law Library of Congress

Library of Congress Classification

Library of Congress Country Studies

Library of Congress Living Legend

Library of Congress Subject Headings

List of librarians

List of national libraries

MARC standards

National Archives and Records Administration

National Film Registry

National Recording Registry

Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress

Project MINERVA

Public Library Advocacy

The Feleky Collection

United States Copyright Office

United States Senate Library

Veterans History Project of the Library of Congress American Folklife Center

World Digital Library

References

External links

The Library of Congress website

* American Memory

* History of the Library of Congress

* Search the Library of Congress catalog

* thomas.loc.gov, legislative information

Library Of Congress Meeting Notices and Rule Changes from The Federal Register RSS Feed

Library of Congress photos on Flickr

Outdoor sculpture at the Library of Congress

Standards, The Library of Congress

Library of Congress at FamilySearch Research Wiki for genealogists

Category:1800 establishments in the United States Category:Agencies of the United States Congress Category:Archives in the United States Category:Film archives Congress, Library of Congress Librarian of Congress Category:National Historic Landmarks in Washington, D.C. Category:Photo archives Category:Research libraries Category:World Digital Library Category:History museums in Washington, D.C. Category:Library museums in the United States

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Rosie the Riveter is a cultural icon of the United States, representing the American women who worked in factories during World War II, many of whom worked in the manufacturing plants that produced munitions and war supplies. These women sometimes took entirely new jobs replacing the male workers who were in the military. Rosie the Riveter is commonly used as symbol of feminism and women's economic power.

History

The term "Rosie the Riveter" was first used in 1942 in a song of the same name written by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb. The song was recorded by numerous artists, including the popular big band leader Kay Kyser, and became a national hit. The song portrays "Rosie" as a tireless assembly line worker, doing her part to help the American war effort.

All the day long, Whether rain or shine She’s part of the assembly line. She’s making history, Working for victoryRosie the Riveter

Although real-life Rosie the Riveters took on male dominated trades during World War II, women were expected to return to their everyday housework once men returned from the war. Government campaigns targeting women were addressed solely at housewives, perhaps because already employed women would move to the higher-paid "essential" jobs on their own. Propaganda was also directed at their husbands, many of whom were unwilling to support such jobs. Most women opted to do this. Later many women returned to traditional work such as clerical or administration positions. However, some of these women continued working in the factories.

The individual who was the inspiration for the song was Rosalind P. Walter, who "came from old money and worked on the night shift building the F4U Corsair fighter." Later in life Walter was a philanthropist, a board member of the WNET public television station in New York and an early and long-time supporter of the Charlie Rose interview show.

Rosie the Riveter became most closely associated with another real woman, Rose Will Monroe, who was born in Pulaski County, Kentucky in 1920 and moved to Michigan during World War II. She worked as a riveter at the Willow Run Aircraft Factory in Ypsilanti, Michigan, building B-29 and B-24 bombers for the U.S. Army Air Forces. Monroe achieved her dream of piloting a plane when she was in her 50's and her love of flying resulted in an accident that contributed to her death 19 years later. Monroe was asked to star in a promotional film about the war effort at home. The song "Rosie the Riveter" was popular at the time, and Monroe happened to best fit the description of the worker depicted in the song. Rosie went on to become perhaps the most widely recognized icon of that era. The films and posters she appeared in were used to encourage women to go to work in support of the war effort.

According to the ''Encyclopedia of American Economic History'', "Rosie the Riveter" inspired a social movement that increased the number of working American women to 20 million by 1944, a 57% increase from 1940. Although the image of "Rosie the Riveter" reflected the industrial work of welders and riveters during World War II, the majority of working women filled non-factory positions in every sector of the economy. What unified the experiences of these women was that they proved to themselves (and the country) that they could do a "man's job" and could do it well. In 1942, just between the months of January and July, the estimates of the proportion of jobs that would be "acceptable" for women was raised by employers from 29 to 85%. African American women were some of those most affected by the need for women workers. It has been said that it was the process of whites working along blacks during the time that encouraged a breaking down of social barriers and a healthy recognition of diversity. African-Americans were able to lay the groundwork for the postwar civil rights revolution by equating segregation with Nazi white supremacist ideology.

Conditions were sometimes harsh and pay was not always equal—the average man working in a wartime plant was paid $54.65 per week, while women were paid about $31.50. Nonetheless, women quickly responded to Rosie the Riveter, who convinced them that they had a patriotic duty to enter the workforce. Some claim that she forever opened the work force for women, but others dispute that point, noting that many women were discharged after the war and their jobs were given to returning servicemen. These critics claim that when peace returned, few women returned to their wartime positions and instead resumed domestic vocations or transferred into sex-typed occupations such as clerical and service work. For some, World War II represented a major turning point for women as they eagerly supported the war effort, while other historians emphasize that the changes were temporary and that immediately after the war was over, women were expected to return to traditional roles of wives and mothers, and finally, a third group has emphasized how the long-range significance of the changes brought about by the war provided the foundation for the contemporary woman’s movement. Leila J. Rupp in her study of World War II wrote "For the first time, the working woman dominated the public image. Women were riveting housewives in slacks, not mother, domestic beings, or civilizers."

After the war, the "Rosies" and the generations that followed them knew that working in the factories was in fact a possibility for women, even though they did not reenter the job market in such large proportions again until the 1970s. By that time factory employment was in decline all over the country.

On October 14, 2000, the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park was opened in Richmond, California, site of four Kaiser shipyards, where thousands of "Rosies" from around the country worked (although ships at the Kaiser yards were not riveted, but rather welded). Over 200 former Rosies attended the ceremony.

The documentary film ''The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter'' addresses the history of Rosie.

The image most iconically associated with Rosie is J. Howard Miller's famous poster for Westinghouse, titled "We Can Do It!", which was modeled on the middle Michigan factory worker Geraldine Doyle in 1942, but this image was not actually intended to be Rosie the Riveter. Rosie the Riveter is a fictional character.

Images

Westinghouse poster

In 1942, Pittsburgh artist J. Howard Miller was hired by the Westinghouse Company’s War Production Coordinating Committee to create a series of posters for the war effort. One of these posters became the famous “We Can Do It!” image—an image that in later years would also become “Rosie the Riveter”, though this was not intended at its creation. Miller based his “We Can Do It!” poster on a United Press photograph taken of Lansing, Michigan, factory worker Geraldine Doyle. Its intent was to help recruit women to join the work force. At the time of the poster’s release the name “Rosie” was not associated with the image. The poster—one of many in Miller’s Westinghouse series—was not initially seen much beyond one Midwest Westinghouse factory where it was displayed for two weeks in February 1943. It was only later, in the early 1980s, that the Miller poster was rediscovered and became famous as "Rosie The Riveter". Doyle died on December 26, 2010 at the age of 86. She was remembered on NPR: "We bid farewell to an unwitting feminist hero thought to be the model for an iconic poster from World War Two."

''Saturday Evening Post''

Norman Rockwell's image of "Rosie the Riveter" received mass distribution on the cover of the ''Saturday Evening Post'' in 1943. Rockwell's illustration features a brawny woman named 'Rosie' taking her lunch break with a rivet gun on her lap and beneath her boot a copy of Hitler's manifesto, ''Mein Kampf''. Less known to the general public is that the Sistine Ceiling image of Isaiah the prophet is the root of Rockwell's Rosie. Rockwell's model, Shirley Karp Dick, the original Rosie, was paid $6 to model. Two of her most famous photos were of Rosie treading on a book written by Adolf Hitler and of her in a U.S. fighter plane with another woman fueling the plane. During her tenure as Rosie, Shirley Karp Dick was part of the movement that motivated over 11 million women to take over male dominated trades during World War II. She died on January 15, 2009 at the age of 85.

Homages

According to Penny Colman's ''Rosie the Riveter'', there was also, very briefly, a "Wendy the Welder" based on Janet Doyle, a worker at the Kaiser Richmond Liberty Shipyards in California.

In the 1960s, Hollywood actress Jane Withers gained fame as "Josephine the Plumber", a character in a long-running and popular series of television commercials for "Comet" cleansing powder that lasted into the 1970s. This character was based on the original "Rosie" character and thus owes much to exemplary women's efforts in the traditional male workplace.

More recent cultural references include a character called "Rosie" in the video game ''BioShock'', armed with a rivet gun. There is a DC Comics character called Rosie The Riveter, who wields a rivet gun as a weapon (and first appeared in ''Green Lantern'' vol. 2 #176 (May 1984)). In the video game ''Fallout 3'' there are billboards featuring "Rosies" assembling Atomic Bombs while drinking Nuka-Cola. A Rosie the Riveter action figurine is made by Accoutrements, although loosely based on Miller's anonymous poster. In the final bars at 3:06 of the ''video'' track clock, in "Candyman", by Christina Aguilera, which emulates the famous Andrews Sisters vocal harmonies of the WW-II era—while wearing a red bandanna and shot with the era's vintage Technicolor color processing scheme, Christina gives the famous "Rosie" pose, with fist-up, and right hand on biceps. Beyonce Knowles also uses the idea in her 2010 "Why Don't You Love Me?" video. In June 2009 the Crystal Bridges museum in Bentonville has acquired Norman Rockwell's iconic Rosie the Riveter painting for its permanent collection from a private collector. Country music singer Emma Jacob, on her album ''Strong Like Me'', accurately recreates the Rosie the Riveter image for the album's cover.

American singer Pink does a homage to the image of Rosie in her 2010 "Raise Your Glass" music video for her ''Greatest Hits'' album.

The April 2011 issue of ''Wired'' features a cover photograph of Limor Fried in the classic Rosie pose.

See also

United States home front during World War II

Women's roles in the World Wars

Women's Land Army—British farm workers ("land girls")

Woman's Land Army of America ("farmettes")

Australian Women's Land Army

Canary girl—British women working in munitions

Ronnie the Bren Gun Girl—the Canadian equivalent

Women in the workforce

Greatest Generation

References

Sources

Further reading

William L. Bird, Jr. and Harry R. Rubenstein. ''Design for Victory: World War II Posters on the American Home Front.'' New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1998.

External links

Library of Congress Webcast

Rosie the Riveter World War II / Home Front National Historical Park

Rosie the Riveter at History Channel's website.

Regional Oral History Office / Rosie the Riveter / WWII American Homefront Project

American Rosie the Riveter Association

A Real-Life "Rosie the Riveter"

Another Real-Life "Rosie" from the Library of Congress' image set

"Rosie the Riveter" image is not the same as "We Can Do It!"

"Rosie the Riveter - We Can Do It! - Woven Image"

http://hypeshow.nasanu.com/index.php/result/index/keywords/The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter movie

Christina Aguilera in a "Rosie the Riveter" pose in the Candyman music video - see 3:06 on video track clock - playing at Youtube

Freeze-frame image of Christina Aguilera in a "Rosie the Riveter" pose from the Candyman music video

Oral history interview with Audrey Lyons, a "real life" Rosie, who worked in the Brooklyn shipyard during WWII from the Veterans History Project at Central Connecticut State University

Oral history interview with Mary Doyle Keefe, who modeled for Norman Rockwell's "Rosie the Riveter" painting from the Veterans History Project at Central Connecticut State University

Category:History of women in the United States Category:Women in World War II Category:American people of World War II Category:Cultural history of World War II Category:United States home front during World War II Category:Propaganda posters

bg:Rosie the Riveter br:Rosie the Riveter es:Rosie the Riveter eo:Rosie la nitistino fr:Rosie the Riveter he:רוזי המסמררת it:Rosie the Riveter no:Rosie the Riveter pl:Rózia Nitowaczka pt:Rosie the Riveter ru:Клепальщица Рози fi:Rosie the Riveter sv:Rosie the Riveter zh:女子鉚釘工

Coordinates	49°33′21″N20°50′7″N
name	Chinua Achebe
birth name	Albert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe
birth date	November 16, 1930
birth place	Ogidi, Anambra State, Nigeria Protectorate
occupation	David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and professor of Africana studies Brown University
nationality	Nigerian
ethnicity	Igbo
period	1958–present
notableworks	"The African Trilogy": ''Things Fall Apart'', ''No Longer at Ease'', and ''Arrow of God'' "(A man of the People)" }}

Albert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe (born 16 November 1930) popularly known as Chinua Achebe () is a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic. He is best known for his first novel and magnum opus, ''Things Fall Apart'' (1958), which is the most widely read book in modern African literature.

Raised by Christian parents in the Igbo town of Ogidi in southeastern Nigeria, Achebe excelled at school and won a scholarship for undergraduate studies. He became fascinated with world religions and traditional African cultures, and began writing stories as a university student. After graduation, he worked for the Nigerian Broadcasting Service and soon moved to the metropolis of Lagos. He gained worldwide attention for ''Things Fall Apart'' in the late 1950s; his later novels include ''No Longer at Ease'' (1960), ''Arrow of God'' (1964), ''A Man of the People'' (1966), and ''Anthills of the Savannah'' (1987). Achebe writes his novels in English and has defended the use of English, a "language of colonisers", in African literature. In 1975, his lecture ''An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"'' became the focus of controversy, for its criticism of Joseph Conrad as "a bloody racist". In 2011, The Guardian of London named ''An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"'' one of the 100 greatest non-fiction books ever written.

When the region of Biafra broke away from Nigeria in 1967, Achebe became a devoted supporter of Biafran independence and served as ambassador for the people of the new nation. The war ravaged the populace, and as starvation and violence took its toll, he appealed to the people of Europe and the Americas for aid. When the Nigerian government retook the region in 1970, he involved himself in political parties but soon resigned due to frustration over the corruption and elitism he witnessed. He lived in the United States for several years in the 1970s, and returned to the U.S. in 1990 after a car accident left him partially disabled.

Achebe's novels focus on the traditions of Igbo society, the effect of Christian influences, and the clash of values during and after the colonial era. His style relies heavily on the Igbo oral tradition, and combines straightforward narration with representations of folk stories, proverbs, and oratory. He has also published a number of short stories, children's books, and essay collections. He is currently the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, United States.

Biography

Achebe's parents, Isaiah Okafo Achebe and Janet Anaenechi Iloegbunam, were converts to the Protestant Church Mission Society (CMS) in Nigeria. The elder Achebe stopped practicing the religion of his ancestors, but he respected its traditions. Chinua's unabbreviated name, Chinualumogu ("May God fight on my behalf"), was a prayer for divine protection and stability. The Achebe family had five other surviving children, named in a similar fusion of traditional words relating to their new religion: Frank Okwuofu, John Chukwuemeka Ifeanyichukwu, Zinobia Uzoma, Augustine Nduka, and Grace Nwanneka.

Early life

Chinua was born Albert Chinualumogu Achebe in the Igbo village of Ogidi on November 16, 1930. Isaiah Okafo Achebe and Janet Anaenechi Iloegbunam Achebe stood at a crossroads of traditional culture and Christian influence; this made a significant impact on the children, especially Chinualumogu. After the youngest daughter was born, the family moved to Isaiah Achebe's ancestral town of Ogidi, in what is now the state of Anambra.

Storytelling was a mainstay of the Igbo tradition and an integral part of the community. Chinua's mother and sister Zinobia Uzoma told him many stories as a child, which he repeatedly requested. His education was furthered by the collages his father hung on the walls of their home, as well as almanacs and numerous books – including a prose adaptation of ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' (c. 1590) and an Igbo version of ''The Pilgrim's Progress'' (1678). Chinua also eagerly anticipated traditional village events, like the frequent masquerade ceremonies, which he recreated later in his novels and stories.

Education

In 1936, Achebe entered St Philips' Central School. Despite his protests, he spent a week in the religious class for young children, but was quickly moved to a higher class when the school's chaplain took note of his intelligence. One teacher described him as the student with the best handwriting in class, and the best reading skills. He also attended Sunday school every week and the special evangelical services held monthly, often carrying his father's bag. A controversy erupted at one such session, when apostates from the new church challenged the catechist about the tenets of Christianity. Achebe later included a scene from this incident in ''Things Fall Apart''.

At the age of twelve, Achebe moved away from his family to the village of Nekede, four kilometres from Owerri. He enrolled as a student at the Central School, where his older brother John taught. In Nekede, Achebe gained an appreciation for Mbari, a traditional art form which seeks to invoke the gods' protection through symbolic sacrifices in the form of sculpture and collage. When the time came to change to secondary school, in 1944, Achebe sat entrance examinations for and was accepted at both the prestigious Dennis Memorial Grammar School in Onitsha and the even more prestigious Government College in Umuahia.

Modelled on the British public school, and funded by the colonial administration, Government College had been established in 1929 to educate Nigeria's future elite. It had rigorous academic standards and was vigorously elitist, accepting boys purely on the basis of ability. The language of the school was English, not only to develop proficiency but also to provide a common tongue for pupils from different Nigerian language groups. Achebe described this later as being ordered to "put away their different mother tongues and communicate in the language of their colonisers". The rule was strictly enforced and Achebe recalls that his first punishment was for asking another boy to pass the soap in Igbo.

Once there, Achebe was double-promoted in his first year, completing the first two years' studies in one, and spending only four years in secondary school, instead of the standard five. Achebe was unsuited to the school's sports regimen and belonged instead to a group of six exceedingly studious pupils. So intense were their study habits that the headmaster banned the reading of textbooks from five to six o'clock in the afternoon (though other activities and other books were allowed).

Achebe started to explore the school's "wonderful library". There he discovered Booker T. Washington's ''Up From Slavery'' (1901), the autobiography of an American former slave; Achebe "found it sad, but it showed him another dimension of reality". He also read classic novels, such as ''Gulliver's Travels'' (1726), ''David Copperfield'' (1850), and ''Treasure Island'' (1883) together with tales of colonial derring-do such as H. Rider Haggard's ''Allan Quatermain'' (1887) and John Buchan's ''Prester John'' (1910). Achebe later recalled that, as a reader, he "took sides with the white characters against the savages" and even developed a dislike for Africans. "The white man was good and reasonable and intelligent and courageous. The savages arrayed against him were sinister and stupid or, at the most, cunning. I hated their guts."

University

In 1948, in preparation for independence, Nigeria's first university opened. Known as University College, (now the University of Ibadan), it was an associate college of the University of London. Achebe obtained such high marks in the entrance examination that he was admitted as a Major Scholar in the university's first intake and given a bursary to study medicine. After a year of grueling work, he changed to English, history, and theology. Because he switched his field, however, he lost his scholarship and had to pay tuition fees. He received a government bursary, and his family also donated money – his older brother Augustine gave up money for a trip home from his job as a civil servant so Chinua could continue his studies. From its inception, the university had a strong English faculty; it includes many famous writers amongst its alumni. These include Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, novelist Elechi Amadi, poet and playwright John Pepper Clark, and poet Christopher Okigbo.

In 1950 Achebe wrote a piece for the ''University Herald'' entitled "Polar Undergraduate", his debut as an author. It used irony and humour to celebrate the intellectual vigour of his classmates. He followed this with other essays and letters about philosophy and freedom in academia, some of which were published in another campus magazine, ''The Bug''. He served as the ''Herald'''s editor during the 1951–2 school year.

While at the university, Achebe wrote his first short story, "In a Village Church", which combines details of life in rural Nigeria with Christian institutions and icons, a style which appears in many of his later works. Other short stories he wrote during his time at Ibadan (including "The Old Order in Conflict with the New" and "Dead Men's Path") examine conflicts between tradition and modernity, with an eye toward dialogue and understanding on both sides. When a professor named Geoffrey Parrinder arrived at the university to teach comparative religion, Achebe began to explore the fields of Christian history and African traditional religions.

It was during his studies at Ibadan that Achebe began to become critical of European literature about Africa. He read Irish novelist Joyce Cary's 1939 book ''Mister Johnson'', about a cheerful Nigerian man who (among other things) works for an abusive British storeowner. Achebe recognised his dislike for the African protagonist as a sign of the author's cultural ignorance. One of his classmates announced to the professor that the only enjoyable moment in the book is when Johnson is shot.

After the final examinations at Ibadan in 1953, Achebe was awarded a second-class degree. Rattled by not receiving the highest result possible, he was uncertain how to proceed after graduation. He returned to his hometown of Ogidi to sort through his options.

Teaching and producing

While he meditated on his possible career paths, Achebe was visited by a friend from the university, who convinced him to apply for an English teaching position at the Merchants of Light school at Oba. It was a ramshackle institution with a crumbling infrastructure and a meagre library; the school was built on what the residents called "bad bush" – a section of land thought to be tainted by unfriendly spirits. Later, in ''Things Fall Apart'', Achebe describes a similar area called the "evil forest", where the Christian missionaries are given a place to build their church.

As a teacher he urged his students to read extensively and be original in their work. The students did not have access to the newspapers he had read as a student, so Achebe made his own available in the classroom. He taught in Oba for four months, but when an opportunity arose in 1954 to work for the Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBS), he left the school and moved to Lagos.

The NBS, a radio network started in 1933 by the colonial government, assigned Achebe to the Talks Department, preparing scripts for oral delivery. This helped him master the subtle nuances between written and spoken language, a skill that helped him later to write realistic dialogue.

The city of Lagos also made a significant impression on him. A huge conurbation, the city teemed with recent migrants from the rural villages. Achebe revelled in the social and political activity around him and later drew upon his experiences when describing the city in his 1960 novel ''No Longer At Ease''.

While in Lagos, Achebe started work on a novel. This was challenging, since very little African fiction had been written in English, although Amos Tutuola's ''Palm-Wine Drinkard'' (1952) and Cyprian Ekwensi's ''People of the City'' (1954) were notable exceptions. While appreciating Ekwensi's work, Achebe worked hard to develop his own style, even as he pioneered the creation of the Nigerian novel itself. A visit to Nigeria by Queen Elizabeth II in 1956 brought issues of colonialism and politics to the surface, and was a significant moment for Achebe.

Also in 1956, Achebe was selected for training in London at the Staff School run by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). His first trip outside Nigeria was an opportunity to advance his technical production skills, and to solicit feedback on his novel (which was later split into two books). In London, he met a novelist named Gilbert Phelps, to whom he offered the manuscript. Phelps responded with great enthusiasm, asking Achebe if he could show it to his editor and publishers. Achebe declined, insisting that it needed more work.

''Things Fall Apart''

Back in Nigeria, Achebe set to work revising and editing his novel (now titled ''Things Fall Apart'', after a line in the poem "The Second Coming" by William Butler Yeats). He cut away the second and third sections of the book, leaving only the story of a yam farmer named Okonkwo who lives during the colonisation of Nigeria. He added sections, improved various chapters, and restructured the prose. By 1957, he had sculpted it to his liking, and took advantage of an advertisement offering a typing service. He sent his only copy of his handwritten manuscript (along with the ₤22 fee) to the London company. After he waited several months without receiving any communication from the typing service, Achebe began to worry. His boss at the NBS, Angela Beattie, was going to London for her annual leave; he asked her to visit the company. She did, and angrily demanded to know why it was lying ignored in the corner of the office. The company quickly sent a typed copy to Achebe. Beattie's intervention was crucial for his ability to continue as a writer. Had the novel been lost, he later said, "I would have been so discouraged that I would probably have given up altogether."

In 1958, Achebe sent his novel to the agent recommended by Gilbert Phelps in London. It was sent to several publishing houses; some rejected it immediately, claiming that fiction from African writers had no market potential. Finally it reached the office of Heinemann, where executives hesitated until an educational adviser, Donald MacRae – just back in England after a trip through west Africa read the book and forced the company's hand with his succinct report: "This is the best novel I have read since the war".

Heinemann published 2,000 hardcover copies of ''Things Fall Apart'' on 17 June 1958. According to Alan Hill, employed by the publisher at the time, the company did not "touch a word of it" in preparation for release. The book was received well by the British press, and received positive reviews from critic Walter Allen and novelist Angus Wilson. Three days after publication, the ''Times Literary Supplement'' wrote that the book "genuinely succeeds in presenting tribal life from the inside". ''The Observer'' called it "an excellent novel", and the literary magazine ''Time and Tide'' said that "Mr. Achebe's style is a model for aspirants".

Initial reception in Nigeria was mixed. When Hill tried to promote the book in West Africa, he was met with scepticism and ridicule. The faculty at the University of Ibadan was amused at the thought of a worthwhile novel being written by an alumnus. Others were more supportive; one review in the magazine ''Black Orpheus'' said: "The book as a whole creates for the reader such a vivid picture of Ibo life that the plot and characters are little more than symbols representing a way of life lost irrevocably within living memory."

In the book Okonkwo struggles with the legacy of his father – a shiftless debtor fond of playing the flute – as well as the complications and contradictions that arise when white missionaries arrive in his village of Umuofia. Exploring the terrain of cultural conflict, particularly the encounter between Igbo tradition and Christian doctrine, Achebe returns to the themes of his earlier stories, which grew from his own background.

''Things Fall Apart'' has become one of the most important books in African literature. Selling over 8 million copies around the world, it has been translated into 50 languages, making Achebe the most translated African writer of all time.

Marriage and family

In the same year ''Things Fall Apart'' was published, Achebe was promoted at the NBS and put in charge of the network's eastern region coverage. He moved to Enugu and began to work on his administrative duties. There he met a woman named Christie Okoli, who had grown up in the area and joined the NBS staff when he arrived. They first conversed when she brought to his attention a pay discrepancy; a friend of hers found that, although they had been hired simultaneously, Christie had been rated lower and offered a lower wage. Sent to the hospital for an appendectomy soon after, she was pleasantly surprised when Achebe visited her with gifts and magazines.

Achebe and Okoli grew closer in the following years, and on 10 September 1961 they were married in the Chapel of Resurrection on the campus of the University of Ibadan. Christie Achebe has described their marriage as one of trust and mutual understanding; some tension arose early in their union, due to conflicts about attention and communication. However, as their relationship matured, husband and wife made efforts to adapt to one another.

Their first child, a daughter named Chinelo, was born on 11 July 1962. They had a son, Ikechukwu, on 3 December 1964, and another boy named Chidi, on 24 May 1967. When the children began attending school in Lagos, their parents became worried about the world view – especially with regard to race – expressed at the school, especially through the mostly white teachers and books that presented a prejudiced view of African life. In 1966, Achebe published his first children's book, ''Chike and the River'', to address some of these concerns. After the Biafran War, the Achebes had another daughter on 7 March 1970, named Nwando. Achebe when asked about his family stated "There are few things more important than my family.". They have five grandchildren, Chochi, Chino, Chidera, C.J. (Chinua Jr.), and Nnamdi.

''No Longer at Ease'' and fellowship travels

In 1960, while they were still dating, Achebe dedicated to Christie Okoli his second novel, ''No Longer at Ease'', about a civil servant who is embroiled in the corruption of Lagos. The protagonist is Obi, grandson of ''Things Fall Apart'''s main character, Okonkwo. Drawing on his time in the city, Achebe writes about Obi's experiences in Lagos to reflect the challenges facing a new generation on the threshold of Nigerian independence. Obi is trapped between the expectations of his family, its clan, his home village, and larger society. He is crushed by these forces (like his grandfather before him) and finds himself imprisoned for bribery. Having shown his acumen for portraying traditional Igbo culture, Achebe demonstrated in his second novel an ability to depict modern Nigerian life.

Later that year, Achebe was awarded a Rockefeller Fellowship for six months of travel, which he called "the first important perk of my writing career"; Achebe set out for a tour of East Africa. One month after Nigeria achieved its independence, he travelled to Kenya, where he was required to complete an immigration form by checking a box indicating his ethnicity: European, Asiatic, Arab, or Other. Shocked and dismayed at being forced into an "Other" identity, he found the situation "almost funny" and took an extra form as a souvenir. Continuing to Tanganyika and Zanzibar (now united in Tanzania), he was frustrated by the paternalistic attitude he observed among non-African hotel clerks and social elites.

Achebe also found in his travels that Swahili was gaining prominence as a major African language. Radio programs were broadcast in Swahili, and its use was widespread in the countries he visited. Nevertheless, he also found an "apathy" among the people toward literature written in Swahili. He met the poet Sheikh Shaaban Robert, who complained of the difficulty he had faced in trying to publish his Swahili-language work.

In Northern Rhodesia (now called Zambia), Achebe found himself sitting in a whites-only section of a bus to Victoria Falls. Interrogated by the ticket taker as to why he was sitting in the front, he replied, "if you must know I come from Nigeria, and there we sit where we like in the bus." Upon reaching the waterfall he was cheered by the black travellers from the bus, but he was saddened by the irony that they felt unable to stand up to the policy of segregation.

Two years later, Achebe again left Nigeria, this time as part of a Fellowship for Creative Artists awarded by UNESCO. He travelled to the United States and Brazil. He met with a number of writers from the US, including novelists Ralph Ellison and Arthur Miller. In Brazil, he met with several other authors, with whom he discussed the complications of writing in Portuguese. Achebe worried that the vibrant literature of the nation would be lost if left untranslated into a more widely-spoken language.

Voice of Nigeria and African Writers Series

Once he returned to Nigeria, Achebe was promoted at the NBS to the position of Director of External Broadcasting. One of his first duties was to help create the Voice of Nigeria network. The station broadcast its first transmission on New Year's Day 1962, and worked to maintain an objective perspective during the turbulent era immediately following independence. This objectivity was put to the test when Nigerian Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa declared a state of emergency in the Western Region, responding to a series of conflicts between officials of varying parties. Achebe became saddened by the evidence of corruption and silencing of political opposition.

In 1962 he attended an executive conference of African writers in English at the Makerere University College in Kampala, Uganda. He met with important literary figures from around the continent and the world, including Ghanaian poet Kofi Awoonor, Nigerian playwright and poet Wole Soyinka, and US poet-author Langston Hughes. Among the topics of discussion was an attempt to determine whether the term African literature ought to include work from the diaspora, or solely that writing composed by people living within the continent itself. Achebe indicated that it was not "a very significant question", and that scholars would do well to wait until a body of work were large enough to judge. Writing about the conference in several journals, Achebe hailed it as a milestone for the literature of Africa, and highlighted the importance of community among isolated voices on the continent and beyond.

While at Makerere, Achebe was asked to read a novel written by a student (James Ngugi, later known as Ngugi wa Thiong'o) called ''Weep Not, Child''. Impressed, he sent it to Alan Hill at Heinemann, which published it two years later to coincide with its paperback line of books from African writers. Hill indicated this was to remedy a situation where British publishers "regarded West Africa only as a place where you sold books." Achebe was chosen to be General Editor of the African Writers Series, which became a significant force in bringing postcolonial literature from Africa to the rest of the world.

As these works became more widely available, reviews and essays about African literature – especially from Europe – began to flourish. Bristling against the commentary flooding his home country, Achebe published an essay titled "Where Angels Fear to Tread" in the December 1962 issue of ''Nigeria Magazine''. In it, he distinguished between the hostile critic (entirely negative), the amazed critic (entirely positive), and the conscious critic (who seeks a balance). He lashed out at those who critiqued African writers from the outside, saying: "no man can understand another whose language he does not speak (and 'language' here does not mean simply words, but a man's entire world view)."

''Arrow of God''

Achebe's third book, ''Arrow of God'', was published in 1964. Like its predecessors, it explores the intersections of Igbo tradition and European Christianity. Set in the village of Umuaro at the start of the twentieth century, the novel tells the story of Ezeulu, a Chief Priest of Ulu. Shocked by the power of British intervention in the area, he orders his son to learn the foreigners' secret. As with Okonkwo in ''Things Fall Apart'' and Obi in ''No Longer at Ease'', Ezeulu is consumed by the resulting tragedy.

The idea for the novel came in 1959, when Achebe heard the story of a Chief Priest being imprisoned by a District Officer. He drew further inspiration a year later when he viewed a collection of Igbo objects excavated from the area by archaeologist Thurstan Shaw; Achebe was startled by the cultural sophistication of the artefacts. When an acquaintance showed him a series of papers from colonial officers (not unlike the fictional ''Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger'' referenced at the end of ''Things Fall Apart''), Achebe combined these strands of history and began work on ''Arrow of God'' in earnest. Like Achebe's previous works, ''Arrow'' was roundly praised by critics. A revised edition was published in 1974 to correct what Achebe called "certain structural weaknesses".

In a letter to Achebe, the US writer John Updike expressed his surprised admiration for the sudden downfall of ''Arrow of God'''s protagonist. He praised the author's courage to write "an ending few Western novelists would have contrived". Achebe responded by suggesting that the individualistic hero was rare in African literature, given its roots in communal living and the degree to which characters are "subject to non-human forces in the universe".

''A Man of the People''

''A Man of the People'' was published in 1966. A bleak satire set in an unnamed African state which has just attained independence, the novel follows a teacher named Odili Samalu from the village of Anata who opposes a corrupt Minister of Culture named Nanga for his Parliament seat. Upon reading an advance copy of the novel, Achebe's friend John Pepper Clark declared: "Chinua, I ''know'' you are a prophet. Everything in this book has happened except a military coup!"

Soon afterward, Nigerian Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu seized control of the northern region of the country as part of a larger coup attempt. Commanders in other areas failed, and the plot was answered by a military crackdown. A massacre of three thousand people from the eastern region living in the north occurred soon afterwards, and stories of other attacks on Igbo Nigerians began to filter into Lagos.

The ending of his novel had brought Achebe to the attention of military personnel, who suspected him of having foreknowledge of the coup. When he received word of the pursuit, he sent his wife (who was pregnant) and children on a squalid boat through a series of unseen creeks to the Igbo stronghold of Port Harcourt. They arrived safely, but Christie suffered a miscarriage at the journey's end. Chinua rejoined them soon afterwards in Ogidi. These cities were safe from military incursion because they were in the southeast, part of the region which would later secede.

Once the family had resettled in Enugu, Achebe and his friend Christopher Okigbo started a publishing house called Citadel Press, to improve the quality and increase the quantity of literature available to younger readers. One of its first submissions was a story called ''How the Dog was Domesticated'', which Achebe revised and rewrote, turning it into a complex allegory for the country's political tumult. Its final title was ''How the Leopard Got His Claws''. Years later a Nigerian intelligence officer told Achebe, "of all the things that came out of Biafra, that book was the most important."

Civil War

In May 1967, the southeastern region of Nigeria broke away to form the Republic of Biafra; in July the Nigerian military attacked to suppress what it considered an unlawful rebellion. Achebe's partner, Christopher Okigbo, who had become a close friend of the family (especially of Achebe's son, young Ikechukwu), volunteered to join the secessionist army while simultaneously working at the press. Achebe's house was bombed one afternoon; Christie had taken the children to visit her sick mother, so the only victims were his books and papers. The Achebe family narrowly escaped disaster several times during the war. Five days later, Christopher Okigbo was killed on the war's front line. Achebe was shaken considerably by the loss; in 1971 he wrote "Dirge for Okigbo", originally in the Igbo language but later translated to English.

As the war intensified, the Achebe family was forced to leave Enugu for the Biafran capital of Aba. As the turmoil closed in, he continued to write, but most of his creative work during the war took the form of poetry. The shorter format was a consequence of living in a war zone. "I can write poetry," he said, "something short, intense more in keeping with my mood ... All this is creating in the context of our struggle." Many of these poems were collected in his 1971 book ''Beware, Soul Brother''. One of his most famous, "Refugee Mother and Child", spoke to the suffering and loss that surrounded him. Dedicated to the promise of Biafra, he accepted a request to serve as foreign ambassador, refusing an invitation from the Program of African Studies at Northwestern University in the US. Achebe traveled to many cities in Europe, including London, where he continued his work with the African Writers Series project at Heinemann.

During the war, relations between writers in Nigeria and Biafra were strained. Achebe and John Pepper Clark had a tense confrontation in London over their respective support for opposing sides of the conflict. Achebe demanded that the publisher withdraw the dedication of ''A Man of the People'' he had given to Clark. Years later, their friendship healed and the dedication was restored. Meanwhile, their contemporary Wole Soyinka was imprisoned for meeting with Biafran officials, and spent many years in jail. Speaking in 1968, Achebe said: "I find the Nigerian situation untenable. If I had been a Nigerian, I think I would have been in the same situation as Wole Soyinka is – in prison."

The Nigerian government, under the leadership of General Yakubu Gowon, was backed by the British government; the two nations enjoyed a vigorous trade partnership. Addressing the causes of the war in 1968, Achebe lashed out at the Nigerian political and military forces that, had forced Biafra to secede. He framed the conflict in terms of the country's colonial past. The writer in Nigeria, he said, "found that the independence his country was supposed to have won was totally without content ... The old white master was still in power. He had got himself a bunch of black stooges to do his dirty work for a commission."

Conditions in Biafra worsened as the war continued. In September 1968, the city of Aba fell to the Nigerian military and Achebe once again moved his family, this time to Umuahia, where the Biafran government had also relocated. He was chosen to chair the newly formed National Guidance Committee, charged with the task of drafting principles and ideas for the post-war era. In 1969, the group completed a document entitled ''The Principles of the Biafran Revolution'', later released as ''The Ahiara Declaration''.

In October of the same year, Achebe joined writers Cyprian Ekwensi and Gabriel Okara for a tour of the United States to raise awareness about the dire situation in Biafra. They visited thirty college campuses and conducted countless interviews. While in the southern US, Achebe learned for the first time of the "Igbo Landing", a true story of a group of Igbo captives who drowned themselves in 1803 – rather than endure the brutality of slavery – after surviving through the Middle Passage. Although the group was well-received by students and faculty, Achebe was "shocked" by the harsh racist attitude toward Africa he saw in the US. At the end of the tour, he said that "world policy is absolutely ruthless and unfeeling".

The beginning of 1970 saw the end of the state of Biafra. On 12 January, the military surrendered to Nigeria, and Achebe returned with his family to Ogidi, where their home had been destroyed. He took a job at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka and immersed himself once again in academia. He was unable to accept invitations to other countries, however, because the Nigerian government revoked his passport due to his support for Biafra.

Postwar academia

After the war, Achebe helped start two magazines: the literary journal ''Okike'', a forum for African art, fiction, and poetry; and ''Nsukkascope'', an internal publication of the University (motto: "Devastating, Fearless, Brutal and True"). Achebe and the ''Okike'' committee later established another cultural magazine, ''Uwa Ndi Igbo'', to showcase the indigenous stories and oral traditions of the Igbo community. In February 1972 he released ''Girls at War'', a collection of short stories ranging in time from his undergraduate days to the recent bloodshed. It was the 100th book in Heinemann's African Writers Series.

The University of Massachusetts Amherst offered Achebe a professorship later that year, and the family moved to the United States. Their youngest daughter was displeased with her nursery school, and the family soon learned that her frustration involved language. Achebe helped her face the "alien experience" (as he called it) by telling her stories during the car trips to and from school.

As he presented his lessons to a wide variety of students (he taught only one class, to a large audience), he began to study the perceptions of Africa in Western scholarship: "Africa is not like anywhere else they know ... there are no real people in the Dark Continent, only ''forces'' operating; and people don't speak any language you can understand, they just grunt, too busy jumping up and down in a frenzy".

Criticism of Conrad

Achebe expanded this criticism when he presented a Chancellor's Lecture at Amherst on 18 February 1975, ''An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"''. Decrying Joseph Conrad as "a bloody racist", Achebe asserted that Conrad's famous novel dehumanises Africans, rendering Africa as "a metaphysical battlefield devoid of all recognisable humanity, into which the wandering European enters at his peril."

Achebe also discussed a quotation from Albert Schweitzer, a 1952 Nobel Peace Prize laureate: "That extraordinary missionary, Albert Schweitzer, who sacrificed brilliant careers in music and theology in Europe for a life of service to Africans in much the same area as Conrad writes about, epitomizes the ambivalence. In a comment which has often been quoted Schweitzer says: 'The African is indeed my brother but my junior brother.' And so he proceeded to build a hospital appropriate to the needs of junior brothers with standards of hygiene reminiscent of medical practice in the days before the germ theory of disease came into being." Some were surprised that Achebe would challenge a man honoured in the West for his "reverence for life", and recognised as a paragon of Western liberalism.

The lecture caused a storm of controversy, even at the reception immediately following his talk. Many English professors in attendance were upset by his remarks; one elderly professor reportedly approached him, said: "How dare you!", and stormed away. Another suggested that Achebe had "no sense of humour", but several days later Achebe was approached by a third professor, who told him: "I now realize that I had never really read ''Heart of Darkness'' although I have taught it for years." Although the lecture angered many of his colleagues, he was nevertheless presented later in 1975 with an honorary doctorate from the University of Stirling and the Lotus Prize for Afro-Asian Writers.

The first comprehensive rebuttal of Achebe's critique was published in 1983 by British critic Cedric Watts. His essay "A Bloody Racist: About Achebe's View of Conrad" defends ''Heart of Darkness'' as an anti-imperialist novel, suggesting that "part of its greatness lies in the power of its criticisms of racial prejudice." Palestinian–American theorist Edward Said agreed in his book ''Culture and Imperialism'' that Conrad criticised imperialism, but added: "As a creature of his time, Conrad could not grant the natives their freedom, despite his severe critique of the imperialism that enslaved them".

Achebe's criticism has become a mainstream perspective on Conrad's work. The essay was included in the 1988 Norton critical edition of Conrad's novel. Editor Robert Kimbrough called it one of "the three most important events in ''Heart of Darkness'' criticism since the second edition of his book...." Critic Nicolas Tredell divides Conrad criticism "into two epochal phases: before and after Achebe." Asked frequently about his essay, Achebe once explained that he never meant for the work to be abandoned: "It's not in my nature to talk about banning books. I am saying, read it – with the kind of understanding and with the knowledge I talk about. And read it beside African works." Interviewed on National Public Radio with Robert Siegel, in October 2009, Achebe remains consistent, although tempering this criticism in a discussion titled 'Heart of Darkness is innappropriate': "Conrad was a seductive writer. He could pull his reader into the fray. And if it were not for what he said about me and my people, I would probably be thinking only of that seduction."

Retirement and politics

When he returned to the University of Nigeria in 1976, he hoped to accomplish three goals: finish the novel he had been writing, renew the native publication of ''Okike'', and further his study of Igbo culture. He also showed that he would not restrict his criticism to European targets. In an August 1976 interview, he lashed out at the archetypal Nigerian intellectual, who is divorced from the intellect "but for two things: status and stomach. And if there's any danger that he might suffer official displeasure or lose his job, he would prefer to turn a blind eye to what is happening around him." In October 1979, Achebe was awarded the first-ever Nigerian National Merit Award.

In 1980 he met James Baldwin at a conference held by the African Literature Association in Gainesville, Florida USA. The writers – with similar political perspectives, beliefs about language, and faith in the liberating potential of literature – were eager to meet one another. Baldwin said: "It's very important that we should meet each other, finally, if I must say so, after something like 400 years."

In 1982, Achebe retired from the University of Nigeria. He devoted more time to editing ''Okike'' and became active with the left-leaning People's Redemption Party (PRP). In 1983, he became the party's deputy national vice-president. He published a book called ''The Trouble with Nigeria'' to coincide with the upcoming elections. On the first page, Achebe says bluntly: "the Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility and to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership."

The elections that followed were marked by violence and charges of fraud. Asked whether he thought Nigerian politics had changed since ''A Man of the People'', Achebe replied: "I think, if anything, the Nigerian politician has deteriorated." After the elections, he engaged in a heated argument – which almost became a fistfight – with Bakin Zuwo, the newly-elected governor of Kano State. He left the PRP and afterwards kept his distance from political parties, expressing his sadness at the dishonesty and weakness of the people involved.

He spent most of the 1980s delivering speeches, attending conferences, and working on his sixth novel. He also continued winning awards and collecting honorary degrees. In 1986 he was elected president-general of the Ogidi Town Union; he reluctantly accepted and began a three-year term. In the same year, he stepped down as editor of ''Okike''.

''Anthills'' and paralysis

In 1987 Achebe released his fifth novel, ''Anthills of the Savannah'', about a military coup in the fictional West African nation of Kangan. A finalist for the Man Booker Prize, the novel was hailed in the ''Financial Times'': "in a powerful fusion of myth, legend and modern styles, Achebe has written a book which is wise, exciting and essential, a powerful antidote to the cynical commentators from 'overseas' who see nothing ever new out of Africa." An opinion piece in the magazine ''West Africa'' said the book deserved to win the Booker Prize, and that Achebe was "a writer who has long deserved the recognition that has already been accorded him by his sales figures." The prize went instead to Penelope Lively's novel ''Moon Tiger''.

On 22 March 1990, Achebe was riding in a car to Lagos when an axle collapsed and the car flipped. His son Ikechukwu and the driver suffered minor injuries, but the weight of the vehicle fell on Achebe and his spine was severely damaged. He was flown to the Paddocks Hospital in Buckinghamshire, England, and treated for his injuries. In July doctors announced that although he was recuperating well, he was paralyzed from the waist down and would require the use of a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

Soon afterwards, Achebe became the Charles P. Stevenson Professor of Languages and Literature at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York; he has held the position for over fifteen years. In the Fall of 2009 he joined the Brown University faculty as the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor of Africana Studies.

In October 2005, the London ''Financial Times'' reported that Achebe was planning to write a novella for the Canongate Myth Series, a series of short novels in which ancient myths from myriad cultures are reimagined and rewritten by contemporary authors. Achebe's novella has not yet been scheduled for publication.

In June 2007, Achebe was awarded the Man Booker International Prize. The judging panel included US critic Elaine Showalter, who said he "illuminated the path for writers around the world seeking new words and forms for new realities and societies"; and South African writer Nadine Gordimer, who said Achebe has achieved "what one of his characters brilliantly defines as the writer’s purpose: 'a new-found utterance' for the capture of life’s complexity". In 2010 Achebe was awarded The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize for $300,000, one of the richest prizes for the arts.

Style

Oral tradition

The style of Achebe's fiction draws heavily on the oral tradition of the Igbo people. He weaves folk tales into the fabric of his stories, illuminating community values in both the content and the form of the storytelling. The tale about the Earth and Sky in ''Things Fall Apart'', for example, emphasises the interdependency of the masculine and the feminine. Although Nwoye enjoys hearing his mother tell the tale, Okonkwo's dislike for it is evidence of his imbalance. Later, Nwoye avoids beatings from his father by pretending to dislike such "women's stories".

Another hallmark of Achebe's style is the use of proverbs, which often illustrate the values of the rural Igbo tradition. He sprinkles them throughout the narratives, repeating points made in conversation. Critic Anjali Gera notes that the use of proverbs in ''Arrow of God'' "serves to create through an echo effect the judgement of a community upon an individual violation." The use of such repetition in Achebe's urban novels, ''No Longer at Ease'' and ''A Man of the People'', is less pronounced.

For Achebe, however, proverbs and folk stories are not the sum total of the oral Igbo tradition. In combining philosophical thought and public performance into the use of oratory ("Okwu Oka" – "speech artistry" – in the Igbo phrase), his characters exhibit what he called "a matter of individual excellence ... part of Igbo culture." In ''Things Fall Apart'', Okonkwo's friend Obierika voices the most impassioned oratory, crystallising the events and their significance for the village. Nwaka in ''Arrow of God'' also exhibits a mastery of oratory, albeit for malicious ends.

Achebe frequently includes folk songs and descriptions of dancing in his work. Obi, the protagonist of ''No Longer At Ease'', is at one point met by women singing a "Song of the Heart", which Achebe gives in both Igbo and English: "Is everyone here? / (Hele ee he ee he)" In ''Things Fall Apart'', ceremonial dancing and the singing of folk songs reflect the realities of Igbo tradition. The elderly Uchendu, attempting to shake Okonkwo out of his self-pity, refers to a song sung after the death of a woman: "For whom is it well, for whom is it well? There is no one for whom it is well." This song contrasts with the "gay and rollicking tunes of evangelism" sung later by the white missionaries.

Achebe's short stories are not as widely studied as his novels, and Achebe himself does not consider them a major part of his work. In the preface for ''Girls at War and Other Stories'', he writes: "A dozen pieces in twenty years must be accounted a pretty lean harvest by any reckoning." Like his novels, the short stories are heavily influenced by the oral tradition. And like the folktales they follow, the stories often have morals emphasising the importance of cultural traditions.

Use of English

As the decolonisation process unfolded in the 1950s, a debate about choice of language erupted and pursued authors around the world; Achebe was no exception. Indeed, because of his subject matter and insistence on a non-colonial narrative, he found his novels and decisions interrogated with extreme scrutiny – particularly with regard to his use of English. One school of thought, championed by Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong'o, urged the use of indigenous African languages. English and other European languages, he said in 1986, were "part of the neo-colonial structures that repress progressive ideas".

Achebe chose to write in English. In his essay "The African Writer and the English Language", he discusses how the process of colonialism – for all its ills – provided colonised people from varying linguistic backgrounds "a language with which to talk to one another". As his purpose is to communicate with readers across Nigeria, he uses "the one central language enjoying nationwide currency". Using English also allowed his books to be read in the colonial ruling nations.

Still, Achebe recognises the shortcomings of what Audre Lorde called "the master's tools". In another essay he notes:

In another essay, he refers to James Baldwin's struggle to use the English language to accurately represent his experience, and his realisation that he needed to take control of the language and expand it. Nigerian poet and novelist Gabriel Okara likens the process of language-expansion to the evolution of jazz music in the United States.

Achebe's novels laid a formidable groundwork for this process. By altering syntax, usage, and idiom, he transforms the language into a distinctly African style. In some spots this takes the form of repetition of an Igbo idea in standard English parlance; elsewhere it appears as narrative asides integrated into descriptive sentences.

Themes

Achebe's novels approach a variety of themes. In his early writing, a depiction of the Igbo culture itself is paramount. Critic Nahem Yousaf highlights the importance of these depictions: "Around the tragic stories of Okonkwo and Ezeulu, Achebe sets about textualising Igbo cultural identity". The portrayal of indigenous life is not simply a matter of literary background, he adds: "Achebe seeks to produce the effect of a precolonial reality as an Igbo-centric response to a Eurocentrically constructed imperial 'reality' ". Certain elements of Achebe's depiction of Igbo life in ''Things Fall Apart'' match those in Oloudah Equiano's autobiographical ''Narrative''. Responding to charges that Equiano was not actually born in Africa, Achebe wrote in 1975: "Equiano was an Ibo, I believe, from the village of Iseke in the Orlu division of Nigeria".

Culture and colonialism

A prevalent theme in Achebe's novels is the intersection of African tradition (particularly Igbo varieties) and modernity, especially as embodied by European colonialism. The village of Umuofia in ''Things Fall Apart'', for example, is violently shaken with internal divisions when the white Christian missionaries arrive. Nigerian English professor Ernest N. Emenyonu describes the colonial experience in the novel as "the systematic emasculation of the entire culture". Achebe later embodied this tension between African tradition and Western influence in the figure of Sam Okoli, the president of Kangan in ''Anthills of the Savannah''. Distanced from the myths and tales of the community by his Westernised education, he does not have the capacity for reconnection shown by the character Beatrice.

The colonial impact on the Igbo in Achebe's novels is often effected by individuals from Europe, but institutions and urban offices frequently serve a similar purpose. The character of Obi in ''No Longer at Ease'' succumbs to colonial-era corruption in the city; the temptations of his position overwhelm his identity and fortitude. The courts and the position of District Commissioner in ''Things Fall Apart'' likewise clash with the traditions of the Igbo, and remove their ability to participate in structures of decision-making.

The standard Achebean ending results in the destruction of an individual and, by synecdoche, the downfall of the community. Odili's descent into the luxury of corruption and hedonism in ''A Man of the People'', for example, is symbolic of the post-colonial crisis in Nigeria and elsewhere. Even with the emphasis on colonialism, however, Achebe's tragic endings embody the traditional confluence of fate, individual and society, as represented by Sophocles and Shakespeare.

Still, Achebe seeks to portray neither moral absolutes nor a fatalistic inevitability. In 1972, he said: "I never will take the stand that the Old must win or that the New must win. The point is that no single truth satisfied me—and this is well founded in the Ibo world view. No single man can be correct all the time, no single idea can be totally correct." His perspective is reflected in the words of Ikem, a character in ''Anthills of the Savannah'': "whatever you are is never enough; you must find a way to accept something, however small, from the other to make you whole and to save you from the mortal sin of righteousness and extremism." And in a 1996 interview, Achebe said: "Belief in either radicalism or orthodoxy is too simplified a way of viewing things ... Evil is never all evil; goodness on the other hand is often tainted with selfishness."

Masculinity and femininity

The gender roles of men and women, as well as societies' conceptions of the associated concepts, are frequent themes in Achebe's writing. He has been criticised as a sexist author, in response to what many call the uncritical depiction of traditionally patriarchal Igbo society, where the most masculine men take numerous wives, and women are beaten regularly. Others suggest that Achebe is merely representing the limited gendered vision of the characters, and they note that in his later works, he tries to demonstrate the inherent dangers of excluding women from society.

In ''Things Fall Apart'', Okonkwo's furious manhood overpowers everything "feminine" in his life, including his own conscience. For example, when he feels bad after killing his adopted son, he asks himself: "When did you become a shivering old woman?" He views all things feminine as distasteful, in part because they remind him of his father's laziness and cowardice. The women in the novel, meanwhile, are obedient, quiet, and absent from positions of authority – despite the fact that Igbo women were traditionally involved in village leadership. Nevertheless, the need for feminine balance is highlighted by Ani, the earth goddess, and the extended discussion of "Nneka" ("Mother is supreme") in chapter fourteen. Okonkwo's defeat is seen by some as a vindication of the need for a balancing feminine ethos. Achebe has expressed frustration at frequently being misunderstood on this point, saying that "I want to sort of scream that ''Things Fall Apart'' is on the side of women...And that Okonkwo is paying the penalty for his treatment of women; that all his problems, all the things he did wrong, can be seen as offenses against the feminine."

Achebe's first central female character in a novel is Beatrice Nwanyibuife in ''Anthills of the Savannah''. As an independent woman in the city, Beatrice strives for the balance that Okonkwo lacked so severely. She refutes the notion that she needs a man, and slowly learns about Idemili, a goddess balancing the aggression of male power. Although the final stages of the novel show her functioning in a nurturing mother-type role, Beatrice remains firm in her conviction that women should not be limited to such capacities.

Legacy

Achebe has been called "the father of modern African writing", and many books and essays have been written about his work over the past fifty years. In 1992 he became the first living author to be represented in the Everyman's Library collection published by Alfred A. Knopf. His 60th birthday was celebrated at the University of Nigeria by "an international Who's Who in African Literature". One observer noted: "Nothing like it had ever happened before in African literature anywhere on the continent."

Many writers of succeeding generations view his work as having paved the way for their efforts. In 1982 he was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Kent. At the ceremony, professor Robert Gibson said that the Nigerian author "is now revered as Master by the younger generation of African writers and it is to him they regularly turn for counsel and inspiration." Even outside of Africa, his impact resonates strongly in literary circles. Novelist Margaret Atwood called him "a magical writer – one of the greatest of the twentieth century". Poet Maya Angelou lauded ''Things Fall Apart'' as a book wherein "all readers meet their brothers, sisters, parents and friends and themselves along Nigerian roads". Nelson Mandela, recalling his time as a political prisoner, once referred to Achebe as a writer "in whose company the prison walls fell down."

Achebe is the recipient of over 30 honorary degrees from universities in England, Scotland, Canada, South Africa, Nigeria and the United States, including Dartmouth College, Harvard, and Brown University. a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2002), the Nigerian National Order of Merit (Nigeria's highest honour for academic work), and the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade.

Some scholars have suggested that Achebe has been shunned by intellectual society for criticising Conrad and traditions of racism in the West. Despite his scholarly achievements and the global importance of his work, Achebe has never received a Nobel Prize, which some observers view as unjust. When Wole Soyinka won the Nobel Prize in 1986, Achebe joined the rest of Nigeria in celebrating the first African ever to win the prize. He lauded Soyinka's "stupendous display of energy and vitality", and said he was "most eminently deserving of any prize". In 1988 Achebe was asked by a reporter for ''Quality Weekly'' how he felt about never winning a Nobel prize; he replied: "My position is that the Nobel Prize is important. But it is a European prize. It's not an African prize.... Literature is not a heavyweight championship. Nigerians may think, you know, this man has been knocked out. It's nothing to do with that."

Works

Novels

''Things Fall Apart'' (1958)

''No Longer at Ease'' (1960)

''Arrow of God'' (1964)

''A Man of the People'' (1966)

''Anthills of the Savannah'' (1987)

Short Stories

''Marriage Is A Private Affair'' (1952)

''Dead Men's Path'' (1953)

''The Sacrificial Egg and Other Stories'' (1953)

''Civil Peace'' (1971)

''Girls at War and Other Stories'' (1973)

''African Short Stories'' (editor, with C.L. Innes) (1985)

''Heinemann Book of Contemporary African Short Stories'' (editor, with C.L. Innes) (1992)

''The Voter''

Poetry

''Beware, Soul-Brother, and Other Poems'' (1971) (published in the US as ''Christmas at Biafra, and Other Poems'', 1973)

''Don't let him die: An anthology of memorial poems for Christopher Okigbo'' (editor, with Dubem Okafor) (1978)

''Another Africa'' (1998)

''Collected Poems'' Carcanet Press (2005)

''Refugee Mother And Child''

''Vultures''

Essays, Criticism and Political Commentary

''The Novelist as Teacher'' (1965)

''An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"'' (1975)

''Morning Yet on Creation Day'' (1975)

''The Trouble With Nigeria'' (1984)

''Hopes and Impediments'' (1988)

''Home and Exile'' (2000)

''Education of a British protected Child'' (6 October 2009)

''The Igbo and their Perception of God, Human Beings and Creation,'' (2010) (forthcoming)

Children's Books

''Chike and the River'' (1966)

''How the Leopard Got His Claws'' (with John Iroaganachi) (1972)

''The Flute'' (1975)

''The Drum'' (1978)

References

Bibliography

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Niven, Alistair (1991). "Chinua Achebe and the Possibility of Modern Tragedy". In Petersen, Kirsten Holst and Anna Rutherford, eds. ''Chinua Achebe: A Celebration''. Oxford, England: Dangeroo Press. ISBN 978-0-435-08060-0.

Njoku, Benedict Chiaka (1984). ''The Four Novels of Chinua Achebe: A Critical Study'' New York: P. Lang. ISBN 978-0-8204-0154-6.

Nnolim, Charles (1996). "The Artist in Search of The Right Leadership: Achebe As A Social Critic". In Ihekweazu, Edith. ''Eagle on Iroko: Selected Papers from the Chinua Achebe International Symposium, 1990''. Ibadan, Nigeria: Heinemann Educational Books (Nigeria) PLC. ISBN 978-978-129-379-5.

Ogbaa, Kalu (1999). ''Understanding Things Fall Apart''. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-30294-7.

Ogede, Ode (2001). ''Achebe and the Politics of Representation: Form Against Itself, From Colonial Conquest and Occupation to Post-Independence Disillusionment'' Trenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press. ISBN 978-0-86543-774-6.

Ojinmah, Umelo (1991). ''Chinua Achebe: New Perspectives'' Ibadan: Spectrum Books Limited. ISBN 978-978-2461-16-2.

Okpewho, Isidore, (Ed.) (2003). ''Chinua Achebe's 'Things Fall Apart': A Casebook'' Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-514763-6.

Sallah, Tijan M. and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (2003). ''Chinua Achebe, Teacher of Light: A Biography'' Trenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press. ISBN 978-1-59221-031-2.

Tredell, Nicolas (2000). ''Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness''. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-11923-8.

Yankson, Kofi E. (1990). ''Chinua Achebe's Novels: A Sociolinguistic Perspective''. Uruowulu-Obosi, Nigeria: Pacific Publishers. ISBN 978-978-2347-79-4.

Yousaf, Nahem (2003). ''Chinua Achebe''. Tavistock : Northcote House in Association with the British Council. ISBN 978-0-7463-0885-1.

External links

A long way from home Interview in ''The Guardian'', 10 July 2007

Achebe reading his poetry

Palestine Festival of Literature">Chinua Achebe addresses the 2008 Palestine Festival of Literature

Chinua Achebe Study guide

Category:Article Feedback Pilot Category:1930 births Category:Living people Category:African philosophers Category:Bard College faculty Category:Brown University faculty Category:English-language writers Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Category:Recipients of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade Category:Igbo writers Category:Igbo novelists Category:Igbo essayists Category:Igbo children's writers Category:Igbo literary critics Category:Igbo poets Category:Igbo short story writers Category:Nigerian children's writers Category:Nigerian essayists Category:Nigerian literary critics Category:Nigerian novelists Category:Nigerian poets Category:Nigerian short story writers Category:People from Enugu Category:University of Ibadan alumni Category:Nigerian expatriates in the United States Category:University of Nigeria, Nsukka faculty Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

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Coordinates	49°33′21″N20°50′7″N
Name	Chris Hillman
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Christopher Hillman
Born	December 04, 1944Los Angeles, California
Instrument	Bass guitar, mandolin, guitar, vocals
Genre	Folk, bluegrass, folk rock, rock, country rock, country
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician
Years active	1960-present
Label	Columbia, Sugar Hill, Asylum, A&M;, Rounder
Associated acts	Scottsville Squirrel Barkers, The Hillmen, The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Manassas, Souther Hillman Furay Band, McGuinn, Clark and Hillman, Desert Rose Band, Herb Pedersen, Tony Rice, Larry Rice, Chris Hillman & Herb Pedersen
Website	}}

Christopher Hillman (born 4 December 1944 Los Angeles, California) was one of the original members of The Byrds which in 1965 included Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, and Michael Clarke.

Along with frequent collaborator Gram Parsons, Chris Hillman was a key figure in the development of country rock, virtually defining the genre through his seminal work in The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers and later became the leader of the country rock act Desert Rose Band.

Early years

Chris Hillman, the third of four children, spent his early years on his family's ranch home in rural North San Diego County, approximately 110 miles from Los Angeles. He has credited his older sister with exciting his interest in country and folk music when she returned from college in the late 1950s with folk music records by The New Lost City Ramblers and others. Hillman soon began watching many of the country music shows broadcast on local television in southern California at the time, such as Town Hall Party, Spade Cooley and Cal's Corral. Hillman's mother encouraged his musical interests, and bought him his first guitar, but shortly after he developed an interest in bluegrass, and fell in love with the mandolin. When he was barely 15, Hillman went to Los Angeles to see legendary bluegrass band the Kentucky Colonels at the Ash Grove, and later convinced his family to allow him to take the train by himself up to Berkeley, California to take lessons from mandolinist Scott Hambly. It was around this time that Hillman's father died.

Hillman became well known in San Diego's folk music community as a solid player, which garnered him an invitation to join his first band, the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers. The band lasted barely two years and only recorded one album, ''Bluegrass Favorites'', which was distributed in supermarkets, but has earned a legendary, albeit posthumous, reputation as the spawning ground for a number of musicians who went on to play in the Eagles, Flying Burrito Brothers, Byrds, Hearts & Flowers, and the Country Gazette. When the band broke up at the end of 1963, Hillman received an invitation to join the Golden State Boys, then regarded as the top bluegrass band in Southern California, featuring future country star Vern Gosdin, his brother Rex, and banjoist Don Parmley (later of the Bluegrass Cardinals). Shortly thereafter the band changed its name to The Hillmen, and soon Chris was appearing regularly on television and using a fictitious ID, "Chris Hardin," to allow the underage musician into the country bars where many of his gigs were held. When the Hillmen folded, he briefly joined a spinoff of Randy Sparks' New Christy Minstrels known as the Green Grass Revival.

The Byrds

At this point a frustrated Hillman considered quitting music and enrolling at UCLA, but he received an offer from The Hillmen's former manager and producer Jim Dickson to join Jim (later Roger) McGuinn, David Crosby, Gene Clark and Michael Clarke in a new band, The Byrds. Hillman was recruited to play electric bass guitar, although he had never picked up the instrument before. Thanks to his bluegrass background he was able to quickly develop his own unique, melodic playing style on the instrument. The Byrds' first single, a jangly cover of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man", was a huge international hit and marked the birth of the musical genre "folk rock". During the mid-'60s, the Byrds ranked as one of the most successful and influential American pop groups, recording a string of hits including "Turn! Turn! Turn!", "Eight Miles High", and "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star".

Hillman kept a low profile on the band's first two albums, on which McGuinn and Clark sang lead vocals with Crosby adding a high harmony. However, the departure of Gene Clark in 1966 and the growing restlessness of David Crosby allowed Hillman the opportunity to develop as a singer and songwriter within the group. He came into his own on the Byrds' 1967 album ''Younger Than Yesterday'', co-writing and sharing lead vocals (with McGuinn) on the hit "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star". Hillman also wrote and sang the minor hit "Have You Seen Her Face", as well as "Thoughts and Words", "Time Between" and "The Girl with No Name", with the latter two songs showing his bluegrass and country roots. Hillman's prominence continued with the Byrds' next album, ''The Notorious Byrd Brothers'', on which he shared songwriting credit on seven of the album's eleven songs.

Pioneering country rock

Internal strife dogged the Byrds, and by the beginning of 1968 the band was down to two original members, Hillman and McGuinn, along with Hillman's cousin Kevin Kelley on drums. They then hired Gram Parsons to replace Crosby. Together with Hillman, Parsons changed the Byrds' musical direction, helping to usher in a new era of music known as "country rock" when they recorded the album ''Sweetheart of the Rodeo''. Once again, Hillman seemed to recede into the background, leaving most of the vocals to Parsons and McGuinn while he concentrated on bass and mandolin. Parsons left the band shortly thereafter, and Hillman brought in former Kentucky Colonels guitarist Clarence White as a replacement, but this lineup was short-lived when Hillman himself left a few weeks later.

The Flying Burrito Brothers

Hillman teamed with Parsons again, this time as a vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter, to form the Flying Burrito Brothers. Further honing their pioneering country rock hybrid sound by combining the energy, instrumentation and attitude of rock and roll with some of the issues and themes of country music, the Burritos recorded the landmark ''The Gilded Palace of Sin'', followed 1970's ''Burrito Deluxe''. Parsons was out of the line-up by June 1970, when the band toured Canada as part of the Festival Express tour, replaced by future Eagles guitarist Bernie Leadon, while Hillman reverted to playing bass guitar. Hillman stayed with the band for two less successful records, bringing in the Byrds' Michael Clarke and future Firefall singer Rick Roberts for another short-lived lineup.

1970s

Before the Flying Burrito Brothers disbanded, Hillman joined Stephen Stills' band Manassas, where he remained until 1973, when he briefly rejoined the original lineup of the Byrds for a reunion album on Asylum Records.

In 1974, Hillman teamed with singer-songwriter Richie Furay who had co-founded both Buffalo Springfield and Poco, and songwriter J. D. Souther, who had co-written much of the Eagles' early repertoire, in the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band. The trio never quite gelled and broke up in 1975 after two albums and internal squabbles.

Hillman released two solo albums, ''Slippin' Away'' and ''Clear Sailin''', which included several songs co-written with ''Crawdaddy'' magazine editor Peter Knobler. One of their songs, "Step on Out," was recorded by The Oak Ridge Boys on their 1985 album and became the title cut. He was also an in-demand studio musician, playing and singing on sessions for Gene Clark, Dillard & Clark, Poco, Dan Fogelberg and others. After an early 1977 British tour reunited him with Roger McGuinn and Gene Clark, the trio stayed together for two McGuinn-Clark-Hillman albums (on which Hillman continued his songwriting collaboration with Knobler) and one under the McGuinn-Hillman moniker, experiencing one hit single with "Don't You Write Her Off" in 1979.

Desert Rose Band

By the beginning of the 1980s, Hillman returned to his bluegrass and country roots, recording two acclaimed mostly acoustic albums for Sugar Hill Records with singer/guitarist/banjo player Herb Pedersen, a former member of The Dillards. Soon after, Hillman and Pedersen formed the Desert Rose Band, which proved to be Hillman's most commercially successful post-Byrds project. Their first LP, an eponymously titled 1987 outing, generated two Top Ten country hits in "Love Reunited", written with Steve Hill, and "One Step Forward", plus the number one single "He's Back and I'm Blue." From 1987 till the end of 1993 the band recorded seven albums and had a string of 16 country music hits, the majority of which were in the country Top Ten, as well as garnering a number of Academy of Country Music awards, before calling it quits in 1994. As Hillman said, "We definitely quit while we were ahead."

Recently, The Desert Rose Band reunited when John Jorgenson performed with Chris Hillman, Herb Pederson, Jay Dee Maness and Bill Bryson on May 2, 2008, at the Station Inn in Nashville. This lineup is the best known and includes all of the original members present on the hit albums from the 1980s. At this show Hillman said it was the first time they'd played together in 19 years. They went through a string of DRB hits but were unable to play "He's Back and I'm Blue" because Hillman said he had forgotten the words. This sold-out show prompted Hillman and the band to play a handful of other reunion shows at clubs and music festivals throughout the U.S. Several of these were recorded for inclusion on a live album which Hillman is currently shopping to record labels in the U.S. and Europe. When released, this will be the Desert Rose Band's only official live album.

1990s and beyond

At the peak of the Desert Rose Band's success, Hillman also began appearing infrequently with McGuinn. A duet recorded by the pair for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's ''Will The Circle Be Unbroken Vol. II'' album, "You Ain't Going Nowhere", reached the Country Top 10 in 1989. Soon, the pair joined Crosby in a reformed Byrds, playing a handful of club dates. In 1990 they appeared at a tribute to Roy Orbison, performing "Mr. Tambourine Man" along with the song's composer, Bob Dylan. The same year, the Byrds cut four new songs for inclusion in a career-spanning box set, and in 1991 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1996 Hillman reunited with Desert Rose Band alumnus Herb Pederson for the CD ''Bakersfield Bound''. ''Like a Hurricane'' (1998) followed, as well as three bluegrass-flavored releases on Rounder Records with Pedersen, Larry Rice and Tony Rice. He appeared on the 1999 album ''Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons'' in a duet with Steve Earle on "High Fashion Queen", which Hillman co-wrote with Parsons. After a short hiatus, Hillman and Pedersen returned with ''Way Out West'' (2002), a 17-track collection of country, roots rock, and Americana, followed by ''The Other Side'' (2005).

As of early 2010, Hillman has been "recovering from extensive spinal surgery, and hopes to be back touring soon," according to his wife, Connie Hillman.

Discography

The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers ''Bluegrass Favorites'' Crown Records (1962)

The Hillmen ''The Hillmen'' (1969) Together Records

Contains material recorded in 1963-64. Reissued in 1981 and 1995 on Sugar Hill

The Byrds

''Mr. Tambourine Man'' (1965) Columbia

''Turn! Turn! Turn!'' (1965) Columbia

''Fifth Dimension'' (1966) Columbia

''Younger Than Yesterday'' (1967) Columbia

''The Notorious Byrd Brothers'' (1968) Columbia

''Sweetheart of the Rodeo'' (1968) Columbia

''Byrds'' (1973) Asylum

The Flying Burrito Brothers

''The Gilded Palace of Sin'' (1969) A&M;

''Burrito Deluxe'' (1970) A&M;

''The Flying Burrito Brothers'' (1971) A&M;

''Last of the Red Hot Burritos'' (1972) A&M;

''Close Up the Honky Tonks'' (1974) A&M;

''Honky Tonk Heaven'' (1974) Ariola

''Sleepless Nights'' (1976) A&M;

''Farther Along '' (1988) A&M;

''Dim Lights, Thick Smoke, and Loud, Loud Music'' (1987) Edsel

''Out of the Blue'' (1996) A&M;

Manassas

''Manassas'' (1972) Atlantic

''Down the Road'' (1973) Atlantic

''Pieces'' (2009) Rhino

The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band

''The Souther Hillman Furay Band'' (1974) Asylum

''Trouble in Paradise'' (1975) Asylum

McGuinn, Clark & Hillman

''McGuinn, Clark & Hillman'' (1979) Capitol

''City'' (1980) Capitol

''Return Flight I'' (1992) Edsel

''Return Flight II'' (1993) Edsel

''Three Byrds Land in London'' (1997) Windsong

''The Capitol Collection'' (2007) Capitol

McGuinn/Hillman

''McGuinn / Hillman'' (1981) Capitol

Ever Call Ready

''Ever Call Ready'' (1985) Maranatha! Music

The Desert Rose Band

''The Desert Rose Band'' (1987) Curb/MCA

''Running'' (1988) Curb/MCA

''Pages of Life'' (1990) Curb/MCA

''A Dozen Roses – Greatest Hits'' (1991) Curb/MCA

''True Love'' (1991) Curb/MCA

''Traditional'' (1992) Curb/MCA

''Life Goes On'' (1993) Curb

''Live at Nevada County Fairgrounds with Emmylou Harris'' (8-03-1986) Bootleg C

Chris Hillman & Herb Pedersen

''Bakersfield Bound'' (1996) Sugar Hill

''Way Out West'' (2003) Back Porch Records

''At Edwards Barn'' (2010) Rounder Records

Larry Rice, Tony Rice, Chris Hillman & Herb Pedersen

''Out of the Woodwork'' (1997) Rounder

''Rice, Rice, Hillman & Pedersen'' (1999) Rounder Records

''Running Wild'' (2001) Rounder Records

Solo artist

''Slippin' Away'' (1976) Asylum

''Clear Sailin''' (1977) Asylum

''Morning Sky'' (1982) Sugar Hill

''Desert Rose'' (1984) Sugar Hill

''Like a Hurricane'' (1998) Sugar Hill

''The Other Side'' (2005) Sovereign Records

Singles

Year	Single	Chart positions	Album
!width="50"	CAN Country
1984	"Somebody's Back in Town"
1985	"Running the Roadblocks"
1989	"You Ain't Going Nowhere" (with Roger McGuinn)			''Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Volume Two''(Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album)

References

External links

Official homepage

2003 Interview

Category:1944 births Category:Living people Category:People from Los Angeles, California Category:American country rock musicians Category:American mandolinists Category:American bass guitarists Category:The Byrds members Category:Souther–Hillman–Furay Band members Category:The Desert Rose Band members Category:Musicians from California Category:Eastern Orthodox Christians from the United States

da:Chris Hillman de:Chris Hillman es:Chris Hillman fr:Chris Hillman nl:Chris Hillman ja:クリス・ヒルマン no:Chris Hillman nn:Chris Hillman fi:Chris Hillman sv:Chris Hillman

Coordinates	49°33′21″N20°50′7″N
name	Ensō String Quartet
background	classical_ensemble
alias	Ensō Quartet
origin	New York, New York, United States
instrument	2 violins, 1 viola, 1 cello
genre	Classical
occupation	String quartet
years active	1999–present
label	Naxos, Albany
management	Alliance Artists
website	www.ensoquartet.com
current members	Maureen Nelson, violin IJohn Marcus, violin IIMelissa Reardon, violaRichard Belcher, cello }}

The Ensō String Quartet is a US-based string quartet. They have won a number of competitions including the 2003 Concert Artists Guild, 2004 Banff International String Quartet Competition and Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Formed in 1999, they have released three CDs on the Naxos Records label, one of which was nominated for a "Best Chamber Music Performance" Grammy award.

Members

Maureen Nelson, violin I

John Marcus, violin II

Melissa Reardon, viola

Richard Belcher, cello

Richard Belcher is a native of New Zealand.

Biography

Shortly after the group’s inception at Yale University in 1999, Ensō had success at the Banff International String Quartet Competition and won the Concert Artists Guild International Competition, and has consistently received high praise for performances ever since. The quartet’s debut recording was described by Strad Magazine as “an auspicious start to their recording career,” and was followed by the recent Grammy-nominated release of the quartets of Ginastera. MusicWeb International summed up this album as “playing of jaw-dropping prowess revealing masterpieces of the 20th century quartet literature … seek out this group – they are clearly bound for greatness.” The disc was selected as one of MusicWeb’s Recordings of the Year for 2009.

In the 09/10 season the Ensō Quartet was announced as a winner of the Chamber Music America Commissioning Grant which will see the quartet work with composer Kurt Stallmann on a new piece for string quartet and electronics. Since the quartet’s inception in 1999, new music has featured prominently – from winning the Piece-de-Concert prize at the Banff Competition for the best performance of the commissioned piece, to premiering Joan Tower’s Piano Quintet last season, to making premiere recordings released on Albany Records this season of works by composers Anthony Brandt and Karim al Zand.

The 09/10 season has also seen release of the Enso Quartet’s CD of the three quartets by Alberto Ginastera on the Naxos label. The Ginastera CD, which was nominated for "Best Chamber Music Performance" Grammy award , follows the quartet’s 2005 debut on Naxos Records, a 2-CD set of Ignaz Pleyel’s six string quartets, Op. 2, which garnered rave reviews, with Strad Magazine calling the disc “an auspicious start to the Enso Quartet’s recording career.” Gramophone Magazine hailed their playing as “lively and intelligent”, and Fanfare Magazine praised the ensemble for its "extraordinary talent...exceptional sense of vitality and elegance.”

The Ensō Quartet’s members also teach and coach chamber music. Institutions with which they have held substantial teaching or performing residencies include the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (08/09 season), Boston University Tanglewood Institute (06-08), Interlochen Adult Amateur Chamber Music Camp (07-present), and Rice University (04-06) where the members of the quartet served as Guest Lecturers in String Quartet. The quartet has been awarded the Guarneri Quartet Award for their continuing collaboration with Connecticut’s Music for Youth program with whom they have developed a successful program for string students in public schools in Bridgeport and Weston, CT.

The Ensō Quartet's members hold degrees from The Juilliard School, Curtis Institute of Music, New England Conservatory, Guildhall School of Music (UK) and the University of Canterbury (New Zealand). The ensemble formed in 1999 and while students at Yale University and completed graduate residencies at Northern Illinois University with the Vermeer Quartet and at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. The quartet has been featured in the American Ensembles column of ''Chamber Music magazine'' and their live performances have been broadcast on PBS, Chicago’s WFMT, Wisconsin Public Radio, Minnesota Public Radio’s Saint Paul Sunday program, Houston’s KUHF, Australia’s ABC Classic FM, Radio New Zealand and Canada’s CBC radio.

''The ensemble’s name, enso, is derived from the Japanese zen painting of the circle which represents many things; perfection and imperfection, the moment of chaos that is creation, the emptiness of the void, the endless circle of life, and the fullness of the spirit.''

Competitions and honors

The Ensō Quartet has won top prizes in many competitions including the 2003 Concert Artists Guild, 2004 Banff International String Quartet Competition, Chamber Music Yellow Springs, and Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.

The ensemble was chosen as the graduate quartet-in-residence at Northern Illinois University where they were mentored by the Vermeer String Quartet. They also completed a graduate residency at Rice University.

The Ensō Quartet's recording of the complete Ginastera String Quartets was nominated for "Best Chamber Music Performance" Grammy award and selected by MusicWeb International as "Recordings of the Year 2009".

The ensemble has also been the recipient of a Commissioning grant and Residency partnership grants from Chamber Music America.

References

External links

The Enso String Quartet (official website)

http://www.myspace.com/ensoquartet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRfWPhXmMcs

Category:American string quartets