Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian Author

She started writing her first novel, Purple Hibiscus at the age of 24 and has since written five other books which have earned her numerous awards. Apart from writing, she has given two popular TED Talks, one of which has accumulated over seventeen million views. Chimamanda has gained admiration as an author by creating powerful female characters that are refreshingly different from the usual Caucasian heroines that are so common in literature. She uses her influence as a respected writer to advocate for feminism and educate the public on the importance of gender equality.

Chimamanda was raised in a family of strong women. She was born in 1977 and grew up in Nsukka where her mother and father both worked at the University of Nigeria. Both of her parents were trailblazers at the university, her mother, Grace Ifeoma was the Universities first female registrar and her father, James Nwoye Adichie was Nigeria’s first professor of statistics (Daria). Chimamanda followed in her parent’s footsteps by attending the University of Nigeria where she studied pharmaceuticals and planned to emulate her older sister by pursuing a career in the medical field.

However, when she was nineteen Chimamanda was awarded a scholarship to study communication and political science in the United States. She moved to Philadelphia where she attended Drexel University until transferring to Eastern Connecticut State University where she graduated summa cum laude (Wikipedia).

Chimamanda went on to earn a masters degree in creative writing from John Hopkins University, a master of arts in African studies from Yale University and had fellowships at both Princeton and Harvard (Answers Africa).

Get quality help now

WriterBelle

Verified

Proficient in: America

4.7 (657)

“ Really polite, and a great writer! Task done as described and better, responded to all my questions promptly too! ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

But before Chimamanda had even received her master’s degree, her earliest and one of her most popular books was published. Chimamanda began writing her first book, Purple Hibiscus during her senior year of college and it was released about three years later in 2003. The book was extremely well received and in 2005 won her the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book. Since then she has written five more novels, which have gained considerable critical acclaim in addition to a multitude of awards (Daria). Her next book, Half of a Yellow Sun was well received, it collected a few prizes and a few years later adapted into a movie.

Chimamanda’s third novel, Americanah was published in 2013 and won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction (Forbes). Although this book is fiction it’s noticeably similar to Chimamanda’s life. The main character, Ifemelu is a young woman whose narrative loosely imitates the journey that Chimamanda herself made from Nigeria to the United States. Chimamanda’s most recent novel, Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions was initially just a letter. The letter was Chimamanda’s response to a childhood friend that contacted her seeking guidance on how to raise her newborn daughter feminist (NPR).

This scenario was the perfect opportunity for Chimamanda to put to paper what she had been lecturing for years. This manifesto organizes the “Feminist Tools” that Chimamanda has devised to aid parents in raising their daughters to resist gender roles and promote gender equality (Facebook). Apart from novels, she has published a collection of short stories and is now a sought after lecturer. In 2009 Chimamanda gave her first TED Talk, “The Danger of a Single Story” where she speaks about the lack of diversity in literature and how it can be harmful to those who aren’t represented in it. This speech is now in the top ten most-viewed TED Talks of all time.

Three years later Chimamanda gave her second TED Talk labeled: “We should all be feminists”, in which she identifies and addresses the patriarchy that is deeply embedded in society (Ted). This speech prompted people to start discussing feminism in a more positive way. Its effects were amplified when Beyoncé sampled it for her song “Flawless”, this enabled Chimamanda’s message to reach a considerably larger audience (Wikipedia). Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is one of the most prominent Nigerian writers of our time, she is recognized as a talented author in both the United States and Africa. Apart from being an exceptional writer, Chimamanda’s activism inspires women to embrace feminism and to continue working towards gender equality. Not only is she is a feminist icon, she’s also a fashion icon.