A TRIBUTE TO LOVE

"There is war....
There is conflict....
There is...."

So listened, she nodded, she smiled that wonderful smile of hers, then she responded:
"You forgot love."

The speaker was the author of Half of a Yellow Sun, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. A book that will be in the news, the Orange Broadband Prize notwithstanding.

The interview was on the BBC. She spoke of the story behind the book, the personal connection with the war, the research that went into it, what it took to write and how unexpected the prize was.

"Unexpected, all authors say that," the interviewer interjected.

She broke into that smile again and in that instant you know she meant it when she said unexpected.

I haven't read her book, but her superlative style spoke long after time ran out, as it always does, when someone with depth graces the air waves.

So I did what I do best and spent the better half of today reading all there is to this outstanding literary voice. And it all starts with this.....
"I grew up in the shadow of Biafra. I grew up hearing 'before the war' and 'after the war' stories; it was as if the war had somehow divided the memories of my family. I have always wanted to write about Biafra—not only to honor my grandfathers, but also to honor the collective memory of an entire nation. Writing Half of a Yellow Sun has been my re-imagining of something I did not experience but whose legacy I carry. It is also, I hope, my tribute to love: the unreasonable, resilient thing that holds people together and makes us human."