Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Biography: Wiki, Career, Books, Awards

Wiki Profile:

Early Life and Education:

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born in Enugu, Nigeria in 1977 to parents who valued education and encouraged her love of reading and writing. She attended primary and secondary school in Nigeria before moving to the United States to attend college. Adichie graduated from Eastern Connecticut State University in 2001 with a degree in Communication and Political Science, and later earned a master’s degree in Creative Writing from Johns Hopkins University and a master’s degree in African Studies from Yale University.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Career:

Adichie’s literary career began with her debut novel, “Purple Hibiscus,” which was published in 2003 and won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book. This was followed by “Half of a Yellow Sun” in 2006, which won the Orange Prize for Fiction, and “Americanah” in 2013, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction. Adichie’s writing explores themes of race, gender, identity, and the impact of history and politics on personal and societal relationships.

In addition to her novels, Adichie is also a respected essayist and public speaker. Her TED Talk, “The Danger of a Single Story,” has been viewed over 20 million times and translated into more than 30 languages. Adichie has received numerous awards and recognition for her writing and activism, including a MacArthur Fellowship in 2008, also known as the “genius grant.” She was also awarded the PEN Pinter Prize in 2018 for her work defending freedom of expression.

Awards & Recognition:

She was nominated for the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2002 for her short story “You in America,” and the 2002 BBC World Service Short Story Awards named her piece “That Harmattan Morning” as a joint winner.

She was awarded the 2002–2003 David T. Wong International Short Story Prize in 2003. (PEN Center Award).She was one of the authors included in The New Yorker’s “20 Under 40” Fiction Issue in 2010.

She was selected as one of the 39 authors under 40 in the Hay Festival and Rainbow Book Club project Africa39, which honoured Port Harcourt as the 2014 UNESCO World Book Capital, in April 2014.

One of the greatest honours for intellectuals in the United States, Adichie was elected as one of 228 new members to be inducted into the 237th class of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences on October 7, 2017, according to an announcement made in April 2017.

Adichie has received 16 honorary doctorates from schools like Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Edinburgh, Duke University, Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins University, and Catholic University of Louvain.

She received a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, honorary degree from Johns Hopkins University in 2016. Ngozi received a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, honorary degree from Haverford College and The University of Edinburgh in 2017.

She was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa by Amherst College in 2018. 2019 saw her receive an honorary doctor honoris causa degree from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland.

Ngozi Adichie was awarded an honorary degree by Yale University on May 20. She was awarded her 16th honorary doctorate by the Catholic University of Leuven on April 28, 2022.

Other notable awards and recognition Adichie has received include:

• The O. Henry Prize for “The Thing Around Your Neck” (2009)
• The Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for “Half of a Yellow Sun” (2007)
• The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for “Half of a Yellow Sun” (2007)
• The Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for “Half of a Yellow Sun” (2007)
• The David T. Wong International Short Story Prize for “Jumping Monkey Hill” (2007)

Adichie has also been named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World and has been awarded honorary degrees from several prestigious universities.

Honorary Degrees and other academic distinctions:

• Honorary doctorate, Eastern Connecticut State University, Willimantic, Connecticut, USA, May 2015
• Barnard Medal of Distinction, New York, USA, May 2016
• Honorary doctorate, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, May 2016
• Elected as a Foreign Honorary Member into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, April 2017
• Honorary degree, Haverford College, Pennsylvania, USA, May 2017
• Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, 28 2017
• Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree, Duke University, North Carolina, USA, May 2018
• Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree, Amherst College, Massachusetts, USA, May 2018
• Honorary Doctor of Letters Degree, Bowdoin College, Maine, USA, May 2018
• Honorary Doctor of Literature (DLit) degree, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, UK, July 2018
• Honorary Degree, American University in Washington DC, USA, May 2019
• Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree, Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA, May 2019
• Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts degree, Rhode Island School of Design, USA, June 2019
• Doctor of Letters, Honoris Causa, Yale University, USA, June 2019
• Honorary Degree, Northwestern University, USA, June 2019
• Honorary Degree, University of Pennsylvania, May 2020

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Personal Life:

Adichie is married to Ivara Esege, a Nigerian doctor. They have one daughter. She divides her time between Nigeria and the United States, and continues to speak out on social justice issues related to race, gender, and human rights. Adichie’s work and impact on contemporary literature have earned her a place among the most influential writers of this generation.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Net Worth:

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Views:

Feminism:

On feminism and writing, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie stated in a 2014 interview: “I consider myself to be a storyteller, but I would not object in the slightest if someone considered me to be a feminist author. I have a very feminist perspective on the world, so my work must somehow reflect that perspective.”

LGBT Rights:

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is an advocate for LGBT rights in Africa. In 2014, when Nigeria passed a law against homosexuality, she was one of the Nigerian writers who criticised the law, calling it unconstitutional and “a strange priority to a country with so many real problems.” She also argued that since consensual homosexual conduct between adults does not constitute a crime, the law is unjust because it criminalises it. Moreover, Adichie was good friends with the openly gay writer from Kenya, Binyavanga Wainaina. When he passed away on May 21, 2019, after a stroke in Nairobi, Adichie admitted at her eulogy that she was having trouble holding back her tears.

Since 2017, Adichie has received numerous accusations of transphobia, primarily for her original response to the topic “Are trans women women?” which was, “My feeling is trans women are trans women.” Afterwards, Adichie explained what she had stated, writing: “Maybe I should have said that all women are women, whether they are cis or trans. But, the word “cis” does not naturally occur in my lexicon. and most people most likely wouldn’t understand it. While my purpose wasn’t to elevate one or the other, using the terms “trans” and “cis” acknowledges the distinction between women who transition and women who are born that way. I have defended the rights of transgender persons and will do so in the future.”

J. K. Rowling’s essay, “J.K. Rowling Writes on Her Reasons for Speaking up on Sex and Gender Problems,” generated “all the ruckus” in 2020, according to Adichie, who called the piece “absolutely logical.” Once more, Adichie was accused of transphobia; part of these allegations came from Nigerian novelist Akwaeke Emezi, a former student of Adichie’s writing workshop. Adichie criticised cancel culture in response to the outcry, saying: “In certain ways, you aren’t permitted to develop intellectually and personally. Moreover, forgiving is not an option. It seems to me to be so deficient in empathy.”

Adichie also criticised cancel culture in an essay from June 2021 titled “It Is Obscene,” when she spoke with two unidentified writers who had taken her writing course and had later criticised her on social media for remarks she had made regarding transgender persons. Their “passionate performance of virtue that is well accomplished in the public realm of Twitter but not in the personal space of friendship,” as she put it, was “obscene,” according to her.

After stating in an interview with The Guardian that “So somebody who looks like my brother – he says, “I’m a woman,” and walks into the women’s toilet, and a woman goes, “You’re not supposed to be here,” and she’s transphobic?” in late 2022, she came under further fire for her opinions.

Religion:

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Catholic and was brought up in a Catholic home, but she feels that occasionally her opinions, particularly those on feminism, are at odds with her religion. She claimed that religion “is not a women-friendly institution” and “has been used to justify oppressions that are based on the premise that women are not equal human beings” during a Georgetown University event in 2017. Furthermore, She has urged Nigerian Muslim and Christian leaders to spread messages of harmony and peace. She has also defined as culturally Catholic despite earlier identifying as an atheist and bringing up her daughter in the Catholic faith. She revealed that she had reverted to her Catholic faith in a 2021 Humboldt Forum.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Bibliography:

Some of the books she has published and year of publication are listed below:

 Conclusion:

In conclusion, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie inspiring journey from a young girl in Nigeria to a globally recognized author and activist is a testament to the power of storytelling and the importance of amplifying diverse voices. Her writing challenges readers to confront uncomfortable truths and to work towards a more just and equitable world. Adichie’s numerous awards and recognition speak to the significance and impact of her contributions to the literary world and to society as a whole.