About the Author

Early Life: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born in Enugu, Nigeria in 1977. She grew up in Nsukka with her parents Grace Ifeoma and James Nwoye Adichie and her six siblings. She grew up in the house formerly occupied by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. Her father was a professor at the University of Nigeria.

Education: After high school, Adichie studied pharmacy at the University of Nigeria. She moved to America at age 19 and enrolled in Drexel University for two years. She proceeded on to Eastern Connecticut State University and graduated with a degree in communications in 2001. She received her masters in creative writing from Johns Hopkins. She has earned her MA in African Studies from Yale and has been awarded fellowships at both Princeton and Harvard. She received the Medal of Distinction from Barnard in 2016.

As a Writer: Adichie has written three novels as well as a collection of short stories. Her first novel Purple Hibiscus was published in 2003. Purple Hibiscus as well as her other novels Half of a Yellow Sun and Americanah have been critically acclaimed in countries around the world. Her novels have been translated into over thirty languages. She has won 14 Literary awards among her three novels and short stories.

Ted Talks:

The Danger of a Single Story: https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en

Adichie informs her audience of the “Danger of a Single Story” in this Ted Talk. She warns the dangers of stereotyping and listening to one sided stories, "The problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but they are incomplete." She supplements this with personal experience from her life growing up in Nigeria.

We Should All Be Feminists:

http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/We-should-all-be-feminists-Chim

Adichie takes a stand on feminism in this Ted Talk, “We Should All Be Feminists.” She expands on gender inequality in both America and her home country Nigeria. The popularity of this TEDx Talk led to an essay adaptation, and was also used as a source of inspiration for Beyonce’s song “Flawless.”

Sources:

http://www.l3.ulg.ac.be/adichie/cnabio.html

http://chimamanda.com/about-chimamanda/

http://www.vogue.co.uk/arts-and-lifestyle/2015/10/chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-novelist-ted-speaker-interview/gallery/1375831

http://msmagazine.com/blog/2014/06/06/chimamanda-to-ms-im-very-feminist-in-the-way-i-look-at-the-world/