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Google Doodle honors author Chinua Achebe

The Nigerian author, considered the father of modern African literature, would have been 87 years old today.

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Chinua Achebe's best known novel is "Things Fall Apart."

 Google

Chinua Achebe has been celebrated for more than 60 years as the father of modern African literature, but Thursday Google added a Doodle to his list of honors. 

On what would have been the Nigerian author's 87th birthday, Google's search-page artwork honored Achebe, whose best known novel, "Things Fall Apart," has been translated into more than 50 languages. 

"One man took it upon himself to tell the world the story of Nigeria through the eyes of its own people," Google said on the landing page explaining the Doodle. "Chinua Achebe (born Albert Chinualumogu Achebe) was the studious son of an evangelical priest. A student of English literature, he started writing in the 1950s, choosing English as his medium but weaving the storytelling tradition of the Igbo people into his books."

Achebe died when he was 82, in 2013.