Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie is known across the world for many things. She has published three novels, one short story collection and two book-length essays. She has also spoken on different platforms including writing, feminism and other social issues.
As a writer, she has received a number of awards including the MacArthur Genius Grant, Orange prize, the Booker Prize, and the PEN Pinter Prize, among others. She has also been recognised by different organisations as one of Africa’s prominent women and writers. She was also featured in Beyonce’s hit song Flawless and various magazines with the recent being Elle India, which called her the ‘original feminist’.
Born on this day in 1977 to parents working at a university, Adichie started writing as soon as she could spell. It was, therefore, no surprise that she dropped out of a medical course to pursue communications and political science. Her first writings were a collection of poems called Decisions in 1997 and a play, For the Love of Biafra in 1998.
She went ahead to publish Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun, Americanah, The Thing Around Your Neck, We should all be Feminists and Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions.
Here are five speeches from the remarkable writer:
