...Achebe honoured for his contributions to fiction

...Achebe honoured for his contributions to fiction

LONDON — Nigeria's Chinua Achebe, hailed as the father of modern African writing, was awarded the £60,000 ($126,200) Man Booker International Prize Wednesday.

His award capped a triumphant month for Nigerian authors, as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie last week landed the Orange Prize, one of the literary world's top awards for women writers.

Achebe won out over a host of international literary stars, including Canadians Margaret Atwood (a two-time nominee), Alice Munro and Michael Ondaatje. The Booker's 15-name List of Contenders also included such authors as Don DeLillo, Doris Lessing, Philip Roth and Salman Rushdie. MORE>>