Adichi, Chimamanda Ngozi

The future writer was given the names "Chimamanda" and "Ngozi", which is translated from the Igbo language as, respectively, "My God is not mistaken (inexhaustible)" and "Blessing" ^[10] . She was born in Enugu and was the fifth in a family of six children in the city of Nsukka in southern Nigeria , where at the University of Nigeria her father, James Nwoe Adichi, worked as a professor of statistics and vice-rector. Mother Grace Aifeoma came from the village of Abba in the state of Anambra ^[11] and worked as a registrar-secretary in this educational institution and was the first woman in this post in its history ^[12] . The Adichi family lived in the former home of the distinguished Nigerian writer Chinua Acebe .

Chimamanda studied medicine and pharmacology at the University of Nigeria for a year and a half. During this time, she edited The Compass magazine, which was published by Catholic students studying at the university’s medical faculty. Realizing that medicine was not her vocation, in 1996 she went to study in the United States . After listening to a course of lectures on communication and political science at the University of Drexel in Philadelphia , she transferred to the University of Eastern Connecticut to live closer to her sister Aijeomi, who had medical practice in Coventry. In 2001, Chimamanda graduated with honors ( lat. Summa cum laude ) from this university and received a bachelor 's degree .

In 2003, she became a master in literature, passing Johns Hopkins Literary Seminars ^. at the university of the same name . In 2008, Adichi received a Master of Arts degree, specializing in African studies at Yale University .

In 2005-2006, Adichi received the Godder Scholarship ( Eng. Hodder fellow ) at Princeton University . In 2008, she received a McArthur scholarship . The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study ( Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study ) gave Adichi a scholarship to a studio at Harvard University for 2011-2012.

Chimamanda Adichi belongs to the Igbo people . Catholic. Married to Ivara Esege , lives in the United States and Nigeria, where he holds literary seminars ^[13] .

Adichi composed poems as a schoolgirl and in 1997 published a poetry collection “Decisions” ( Eng. Decisions ). Since childhood, I listened to the stories of my father and mother about the civil war in Nigeria (1967-1970), during which they lost all their property and lost their parents, and decided to write about it. At the age of sixteen, Cimamanda Ngozi wrote the play “ For Love of Biafra ”, published in 1998. In the 1980s , the girl read out the works of Enida Blyton about the life of middle-class people in England and tried, rather unsuccessfully, to imitate this author. A decisive influence on the young writer had the novels of Chinua Achebe and Lei Camara ^fr. “And destruction came” ( English Things Fall Apart ) and “African child” ( fr. L'enfant africain ). As a result, she changed the theme of works to African and Negro ^[14] .

While living with her sister in Connecticut , Adichi attended university lectures in the morning, nursed a little nephew during the day, and wrote stories in the evening and night ^[14] . Four of these works are “You in America”, “ The Tree in grandma's Garden ”, “ That Morning Harmattan ” and “The American Embassy” "( Eng. The American Embassy ) - were awarded respectively with a nomination for the Kane Prize (2002) ^[15] , a nomination for the Commonwealth countries competition for the best story in ^English. (2002), first place, along with another nominee, at the BBC Contest for Best Story (2002) and the O'Henry Award (2003).

In the same place, in Connecticut, she launched her first novel, Hibiscus Purple , in which the story is narrated on behalf of the main character, the fifteen-year-old Kambili Achike, who, together with her brother named Judge, suffers from the tyranny of a businessman father, tyrant and catholic sanctuary. The action of the work develops against the background of events in postcolonial Nigeria. The Achike family is falling apart, but in the end it all ends happily. The novel was published in 2003 and over the next two years was awarded seven awards, including nominations for the Orange Literary Prize (2004) and two Commonwealth Literary Prizes ^. in the categories "Best First Book (Africa)" and "Best Debut (Overall)."

The title of her second prose book, Half of a Yellow Sun , was translated into Russian in 2011, reflects one of the motifs of the flag of Biafra , an unrecognized state that existed in Nigeria during the civil war in Nigeria 1967— 1970 years. This novel shows how the interethnic conflict of the Haus and Igbo peoples, and then this war, influenced the fate of the main characters - the rural youth Ugva, his master Odenigbo and two twin sisters, Olanna and Kainen. In connection with this work, Chinua Achebe said:

Usually we do not expect wisdom from beginners, but this young writer is endowed with the gift of ancient storytellers. (...) She is fearless, otherwise she would not have challenged the terrible horrors of the civil war in Nigeria ^[16] .

Original text

We do not usually associate wisdom with beginners, but here is a new writer endowed with the gift of ancient storytellers. (...) She is fearless, or she would not have taken on the intimidating horror of Nigeria's civil war.

The novel was awarded seven prizes ^[17] . In 2013, based on The Half of the Yellow Sun, a film of the same name was shot (screenwriter Bia Bandele ^Eng. ). At the end of that year, “Half the Yellow Sun” was celebrated at the Toronto International Film Festival . In April 2014, the film began to be shown in cinemas in the UK and Nigeria ^[18] .

In 2009, Chimamanda Adichi's book The Thing Around Your Neck was published, a collection of twelve short stories, mainly on Nigerian and American themes. One of them, " Jumping Monkey Hill " ( Eng. Jumping Monkey Hill ), contains elements of an autobiography ^[19] . The American Embassy story shows a woman seeking asylum in the United States, but ultimately refuses this intention because she does not want her son killed for a visa.

In 2010, Adichi, along with other authors, was included in the list compiled by the New Yorker magazine , “Twenty Under forty” ( Eng. 20 Under 40 ) in the category “Fiction” ^[20] . The following year, her story “The Ceiling” ( Eng. Ceiling ) entered the list of “Best American Stories” ^Eng. .

In 2013, she published her third novel, American Realities, about the love of professor son Obinze and the ambitious Ifemela, who went to study in the United States and became a writer there. After the events of September 11, 2001, Obinze, unable to obtain a visa to the United States, ended up in London . Having survived a long separation, lovers meet in Nigeria. The work was awarded two awards - the Prizes of the Chicago Tribune newspaper in the category of Fiction and the Prizes of the National Circle of Book Critics in the category of Fiction.

On literature and feminism, Adichi said:

I consider myself a storyteller, but I would have nothing against it if someone had made an opinion about me as a feminist ... I am a real feminist in my view of the world, and such a worldview should inevitably become an integral part of my works ^[21] .

Original text

I think of myself as a storyteller, but I would not mind at all if someone were to think of me as a feminist writer ... I'm very feminist in the way I look at the world, and that worldview must somehow be part of my work.

She clearly formulated her task as a writer:

They have been writing about Africa for a long time, and have been slandered at it for a long time, they have long been looking at it strangely; I believe that to counter this, I need to be informative. My task is to be truthful. I love Nigeria, but I want to look at it soberly. She is so far from perfect. But we cannot choose where to be born ^[14] .

Original text

Africa has long been written about, long been maligned, long been seen in a particular way, and I feel that to counter that I want to be knowledgeable. My responsibility is to be truthful. I love Nigeria, but I want to be clear-eyed about it. It's so imperfect. But we don't choose where we're born.

As of May 2014, the works of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi were translated into 27 languages, including Russian ^[22] .

In 2009, Adichi made a presentation at the TED conference “ The Danger of a Single Story ” ( The Danger of a Single Story ) ^[23] . On March 15, 2012 in Guildhall ( London ), she gave a lecture on reading cultural literature between the countries of the Commonwealth “Reading realistic literature means looking for humanity” ( English Reading realist literature is to search for humanity ) ^[24] . In December 2012, at a TEDx conference, Adichi made a speech “ We should all be feminists ”. In 2013, American singer Beyoncé used this pungent speech as a sample for her song Flawless , which caused a lot of controversy.

Prizes and nominations

A ↑ Entering the final round of the competition

B ↑ Second Place

C ↑ Joint victory

D ↑ Entering the penultimate round of the competition

Differences

• 2010 - List of the magazine " New Yorker " "Twenty under forty"
• 2011 - The Best American Short Stories List for Ceiling ( Ceiling )
• 2013 - List of the New York Times "Ten Best Books of 2013" (for the novel by Americanah ) ^[34]
• 2013 - BBC's List of Ten Best Books of 2013 (for the Americanah novel)
• 2013 - List of the magazine “ Foreign Policy ” “The Best Global Thinkers of 2013” ^[35]
• 2013 - List of the magazine "New Africa" ^Eng. “One Hundred Most Influential Africans of 2013”
• 2014 - List of the Africa39 project “39 writers under the age of forty” ^[36]

Novels

• Purple Hibiscus (Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2003) - Purple Hibiscus
• Half of a Yellow Sun (London: Fourth Estate, 2006) - “Half the Yellow Sun”
• Americanah (London: Fourth Estate, 2013) - American

Pieces

• For Love of Biafra (Ibadan: Spectrum Books, 1998) - “For the Love of Biafra”

Poetry collections

• Decisions (London: Minerva Press, 1997) - “Decisions”

Storybooks

• The Thing around Your Neck (London: Fourth Estate, 2009) - “A Thing Around Your Neck”

• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi. Half of a Yellow Sun = Half of a Yellow Sun / translation by M. Izvekova. - Moscow: Phantom Press , 2011 .-- 480 p. - 4000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-86471-541-3 .
• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi. American = Amerikanah / translation by S. Martynova. - Moscow: Phantom Press, 2018 .-- 640 p. - ISBN 978-5-86471-776-9 .

• *** Flawless ^English (with Beyonce )

• Website of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi
• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Quality Street , Guernica Magazine
• HTML "Debut novel from Nigeria storms Orange shortlis", The Guardian
• STM "The new face of Nigerian literature?" (Link unavailable) BBC News
• Report by Cimamanda Ngozi Adichi at the TED Conference “The Danger of a Single Story”
• Audio: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi at the BBC World Service Forum
• Lecture by Cimamanda Ngozi Adichi on cultural relations between the countries of the Commonwealth “Reading realistic literature means looking for humanity” ( eng. Reading realist literature is to search for humanity ), 2012, YouTube eng. English English
• “Why Are You Here?” (“Why Are You Here?”) , Guernica Magazine , 01.2012