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Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born in Nigeria in 1977. She spent most of her youth in Nsukka, Nigeria. In Nsukka the family lived in the house formerly owned by Chinua Achebe. Adichie cites Achebe as a key influence on her writing, as she read his acclaimed novel Things Fall Apart as a young girl.

Adichie grew up in a liberal and intellectual family who allowed her free expression. Adichie’s hometown of Enugu, her adopted town of Nsukka – where she grew up when her father worked at the university – and her ancestral town of Abba would serve as key settings in her debut novel Purple Hibiscus.

Adichie attended medical school in Nigeria for two years before emigrating to the United States in 1997. She changed her academic pathway, completing a BA in Communication and Political Science at Eastern Connecticut State University in 2001.

In 1998, Adichie published her first work in Nigeria, a play, For Love of Biafra. She is critical of her own writing in this work, which explored the 1960s war between Nigeria and the newly separated Biafran Republic. Adichie would return to the Biafran conflict in a series of short stories in 2002 and 2003, one of which was later developed into her prize-winning novel, Half of a Yellow Sun, in 2006.

Adichie graduated with a MFA in Creative Writing from Johns Hopkins University, and went on to gain a further MA degree in African History at Yale. Throughout her university studies, Adichie split her time between America and Nigeria. Many of her stories and her novels are based in Nigeria.

While her own life was not directly affected by the violence of the Biafran conflict and the subsequent coups and civil unrest, Adichie’s values and ideas were shaped by the contradictions of a country beleaguered by periods of tyranny and freedom, order and chaos. Adichie’s writing draws on her academic knowledge of African and Nigerian history, as well as exploring her family’s memories of a Nigeria in crisis.

Adichie’s non-fiction works set out her beliefs about writing, feminism and life experiences. Some have been developed from highly successful TED talks, which drew worldwide acclaim and interest. Her views are not always received without controversy. Her intervention in debates surrounding J K Rowling’s views on gender and identity has attracted criticism.

Adichie’s main interest as a writer was to move away from the idea of a ‘single story’. She had grown up reading Anglo-American literature and struggled to see girls and women like herself in the stories she read. Adichie combined her experience as a History graduate and a feminist when crafting strong female protagonists for her novels. Her non-fiction works present a similar interest in female identity and history and tradition. More recently, Adichie has explored her personal grief and bereavement processes following the death of her father.

Further Reading
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1977

Birth

Born 15th September 1977, in Enugu, Nigeria. Adichie spent most of her childhood in Nsukka. The family moved there when her father took a job at Nsukka University.
1997

Migrated to America for study

After almost two years of medical school, Adichie moved to America to attend university.
1998

For Love of Biafra

Adichie published her first work in Nigeria, a play, For Love of Biafra. The play is set during Nigeria’s civil conflict in the 1960s, created by the attempt to create the separate state of Biafra. Adichie would return to this period in her short stories and later full-length novel, Half of a Yellow Sun.
2001

Completed BA degree

Adichie was awarded her BA in Communication and Political Science. She was awarded her degree with Honours.
2002

Becoming a writer

Adichie started postgraduate MFA in Creative Writing at Johns Hopkins University. While studying, Adichie began work on short stories and her first full-length novel, Purple Hibiscus.
2003

Purple Hibiscus

Adichie’s debut novel, Purple Hibiscus, charts the development of Kambili Achike as she struggles to navigate the conflict within her own home and learns the importance of speaking up when required.
2005

International recognition

Purple Hibiscus won both Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Fiction (Africa) and Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book.
2005

Princeton

Adichie was awarded Hodder Fellowship at Princeton for academic year 2005–2006.
2006

Half of a Yellow Sun

Drawing on some years of research and her parents’ own experiences, Half of a Yellow Sun explores the contrasting experiences of two sisters caught up in the Biafran conflict.
2007

Further success

Half of a Yellow Sun won the Orange Prize for Fiction.
2008

MA in African History

Adichie was awarded her Master of Arts in African History from Yale. Her thesis concentrated on the history of Igbo women.
2009

‘The Danger of a Single Story’

Originally delivered as a TED talk, this essay, which discusses issues of representation in literature and cultural stereotyping, is currently a set non-fiction text on international IGCSE specifications.
2009

The Thing Around Your Neck

The 12 short stories in this collection address individual characters and situations, but do share some common themes, such as the restrictions created by class, gender and race.
2012

Harvard Fellowship

Fellowship at Radcliffe Institute, Harvard.
2013

Americanah

The Harvard Fellowship provided Adichie with the opportunity to complete her third novel, Americanah. The narrative follows Ifemelu as she emigrates to America from Nigeria, as she struggles to find her identity.
2014

‘We should all be feminists’

Adapted from her 2012 TED talk of the same name, and sampled by Beyonce, ‘We should all be feminists’ is an essay on what it means to be feminist. She asks that readers acknowledge sexism and accept that you can be feminine and feminist.
2015

‘Best of the Best’

Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun voted the best novel of the previous decade, winning the ‘Best of the Best’ Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction.
2017

Dear Ijeawele (A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions)

This non-fiction work sets out a manifesto for women to raise their daughters. The discussion includes the problems of domestic chores and gendered clothing.
2021

Notes on Grief

The work explored how Adichie mourned her father following his death, as well as providing an opportunity to celebrate his life.