TELL Magazine

Elechi Amadi

Elechi Amadi, foremost Nigerian author, is dead. He died on Wednesday June 29 at the Good Heart hospital in Port Harcourt of an undisclosed ailment aged 82. Confirming the incident, Wabueze Amadi, a member of the family said the renowned author died at about 3.45pm yesterday at the hospital.

Amadi is best remembered for his 1966 first novel, The Concubine, often referred to as an outstanding work of pure fiction. His other works include the Great Ponds, Isiburu, Sunsetin Biafra, Dance of Johannesburg, Peppersoup, The Road to Ibadan, The Slave, Estrangement and the Woman of Calaber.
Amadi, born in 1934 in Aluu, in the Ikwerre local government area of Rivers State, Rivers Nigeria was educated at Government College, Umuahia, and University College, Ibadan, in physics and mathematics. He served in the Nigerian army and variously held various positions in the Rivers State government.

Amadi, who lived in his native Aluu community till his death, was a writer-in-residence and lecturer at the Rivers State College of Education, where he also held the positions of Dean of Arts, Head of the Literature Department and Director of General Studies.

By Tolu Soetan