“Culture does not make people. People make culture. If it is true that the full humanity of women is not our culture, then we can and must make it our culture.”
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian writer and global feminist icon. At the age of 19, Adichie moved to the United States in order to pursue a degree in communications and political science at Drexel University. It was here where she began to notice the differences between her home and the United States regarding culture and race, as she was not accustomed to being identified by the color of her skin. Inspired by seeing a similar representation of her own life in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Adichie sought to portray her culture in a positive light to a wide audience with the goal of preventing negative cultural stereotypes. She has achieved this through her popular novels Americanah, Purple Hibiscus, The Thing Around Your Neck, and Half of a Yellow Sun. Achibie is also an avid supporter of women’s rights and her novel “We Should All Be Feminists”, as well as her TED Talk of the same name have been used as platforms to share her views with her audience.
Nationality: Nigerian
Q. Would you say you’re a confident person? Do you write with the idea that people will want to read what you have to say in your mind or do you write purely for yourself?
A. Self doubt is part of the creative process. I hate to have it but I also realise it is part of the process. Otherwise you become complacent, which is cancerous for creativity. I generally write the kind of books that I like to read.
