AMAZING GRACE

I heard her first on the BBC, soon after she won the Orange Prize. What struck me was her conviction in what she has written, her poise and her grace. Here she is again, dealing with some of the questions that Half of a Yellow Sun throws up. Take more than a moment to listen to it.

I JUST....

Write. I have to write. I like to say that I didn't choose writing, writing chose me. This may sound slightly mythical, but I sometimes feel as if my writing is something bigger than I am.

More from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in the Washington Post, 13 November 2006:
I realized that I was African when I came to the United States. Whenever Africa came up in my college classes, everyone turned to me. It didn't matter whether the subject was Namibia or Egypt; I was expected to know, to explain.

At the Emerging Writers Forum, 6 April 2004
Have you wondered why reviewers and blurb-writers are quick to reassure readers that a book about Africa (usually one written by a Black African about Black Africans) is NOT JUST AN AFRICAN BOOK BUT IS UNIVERSAL, as well? As if 'African' and 'Universal' are mutually exclusive. Nobody ever informs the reader that a great English or American novel is universal because the assumption, of course, is that it is.

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."