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Chimamanda Adichie: A young generation of literature

Over the years, Nigeria has produced sterling writers that made the nation a powerhouse in African literature. From the Wole Soyinka, things fall apart by Chinua Achebe, Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta, the list of wonderful Nigeria literature are endless.

 

These old writers as pass the touch of greatness to the young generation of writers but one writer who’s touch seems to shine the greatness is Chimamanda Adichie.

Who is Chimamanda Adichie?

Born on the 15th day of September in Enugu, Chimamanda Adichie is a Nigerian born novelist, short story and non-fiction writer. An Igbo descent and fifth child of her family, Chimamanda Adichie has been making Nigeria proud Globally with her numerous achievements and interesting style of writing. Chimamanda Adichie always loved to become a Writer, she was found reading novels and writing short stories at a very tender age. But due to pressure from her father, she found herself pursuing a career in medicine.

She was only in love with writing and at age 19, she dropped the telescope, picked her pen and followed her dream of becoming a Writer.

Adiche gained scholarship to study communications and political science in Philadelphia, United States of America. After that, she began MFA courses in literature in 2002 at the renowned Johns Hopkins University. In 2008, She went further to bag a Master of Arts degree in African studies from Yale University. In 2016 Adiche received an honorary degree – Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, by Johns Hopkins University.

To round up her educational background, she also received an honorary degree – Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, by Haverford College, and The University of Edinburgh in 2017.

Adiche is an epitome of a woman with the B’s ( Beauty’s and Brilliance). Although being referred to as Miss she’s happily married to a medical doctor and they both have a daughter together. She has written and published beautiful poems, like ‘Decisions,’ 1997 and a play, ‘For Love of Biafra,’ which she said was inspired by the tale of the Nigeria Civil war which claimed the life of her grandfather. In 2002, her short story “You in America was shortlisted for the Cana Prize. Also in the same year, She was a joint winner of the BBC Short Story Awards with her interesting book titled ‘That Harmattan Morning”.

Adiche also won the David T. Wong International Short Story Prize and the O. Henry Award.

In 2005 Adiche received praises from far and near for her novel ‘Purple Hibiscus”, Purple hibiscus was her debut novel, it won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book in 2005 and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize Awards. Adiche second novel, ‘Half of a Yellow Sun,’ was published in 2006 and was named after the flag of the ephemeral nation of Biafra, is set before.

The novel which later was made into a movie in 2014 received the 2007Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and Orange Prize for Fiction.

Her third book, ‘The Thing Around Your Neck,’ was published in 2009. The book is a collection of 12 interesting stories that examine the relationship between men and women, parents and children in Nigeria and the United States of America. In 2011, her story “Ceiling ” was among the edition of the Best American Short stories. Adiche is a fierce feminist and this could be seen in her latest book ‘Dear Ijeawele,’ which was published in 2017. is a form of a letter She wrote to her friend who was seeking advice on how to bring up her daughter as a feminist. Taking on the footsteps of her IcoN Chinua Achebe,

At just 41, Miss Chimamanda Adichie still has more awards to bag as she advances in her career.

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