1930 – He was born on the 16th of November in Ogidi, Nigeria.

1944 – He attended Government College in Umuahia for three years.

1948 – He studied English, history and theology at the  University of Ibadan.

1952 – He was attacking a man widely revered in the West for his "reverence for life".

1958 – His magnum opus "Things Fall Apart" , a historical novel that considers the
            effects of colonialization on Igbo society.

1961 – He proceeded to study broadcasting at the British Broadcasting Corporation,
             becoming the first Director of External Broadcasting at the Nigerian Broadcasting
              Corporation.

1967- He took a position with the Biafran government as an ambassador for three years.

1971 – His poem, "Dirge for Okigbo", originally written in the Igbo language but translated
            to English for later publication, is based on a traditional Igbo dirge.

1985 – He may have further alienated the Nobel Prize committee with his 1985 criticism of
           V.S. Naipaul as "a brilliant writer who sold himself to the West.

1990 – He was paralyzed from the waist down in a  car accident.

2002 –  He was awarded the prestigious Peace Prize of the German Book Trade.

2004 –  He declined to accept the Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR).