Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is no doubt a great book. Not only have many a Nigerian read this great work of literature by an equally great writer but much of the world has, too courtesy of translations in several languages. As a matter of fact, it is one of the world’s 50 most translated books as reported by http://7brands.com.
According to the website the piece is to celebrate World Book Day and it looks at 50 of the world’s most translated books, from The Alchemist (first published in Portuguese) to Wolf Totem (Mandarin).
“The best books have the power to touch people on every corner of the earth, not just the country they’re written in, allowing readers to expand their horizons and discover new cultures and different ways of thinking,” said the website.
http://7brands.com, which listed Achebe’s book among such greats as The Little Prince, Pinocchio, Pilgrim’s Progress, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Andersen’s Fairy Tales, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and a host of others, explained that if these books are to be enjoyed all around the world they need to be translated into different languages first.
World Book Day or World Book and Copyright Day (also known as International Day of the Book or World Book Days) is a yearly event on April 23, organised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), to promote reading, publishing and copyright.