Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a writer and storyteller, best known for her themes of politics, culture, race, and gender. Her novels and short stories have received both public and critical acclaim and have been described as “jewels in the crown of diasporan literature”. The recipient of numerous awards and nominations, Chimamanda was listed among Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2015 and in the BBC 100 Women – ‘women playing their part to reinvent our society, our culture and our world’ – in 2021.
Chimamanda is a sought-after speaker around the world. Among the most popular of her speeches are the TED talks ‘The danger of a single story’ and ‘We should all be feminists’. In the first, Chimamanda tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding. In the second, she asks that we begin to dream about and plan for a different, fairer world of happier men and women who are truer to themselves.
Why not discover the brilliance of this lady for yourself by following the links to her talks?
What is Chimamanda’s personal story?
Born in Nigeria in 1977, Chimamanda grew up in a happy and loving middle-class catholic Igbo family. The fifth of six children, she grew up on the campus of the University of Nigeria where her father was a professor and her mother was the first female Registrar. She was an early reader and started writing stories as soon as she could spell. Having successfully completed primary and secondary education, Chimamanda followed family and cultural expectations and studied medicine. However, after the first year she had the courage to give up medicine to follow her own path. At the age of nineteen, she won a two-year scholarship to study communication in the United States. This was later followed by a degree in communication and political science and a master’s degree in creative writing. Chimamanda also earned an MA in African Studies from Yale University in 2008.
Chimamanda’s best known works are Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun, The Thing Around Your Neck, Americanah, We Should All Be Feminists and Dear Ijeawele or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions. She is married with a daughter. Chimamanda divides her time between the United States and Nigeria, where she regularly teaches writing workshops.
Chimamanda is like a breath of fresh air! She is intelligent, beautiful, compassionate and brave. Making full use of her position on a global platform, she questions and challenges limitations and preconceived ideas for the benefit of all.
Clara Waters