“We do not usually associate wisdom with beginners, but here is a new writer endowed with the gift of ancient storytellers.”
– Chinua Achebe
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born in Nigeria. Her most recent novel Americanah was awarded the National Book Critics Circle Award and was named one of The New York Times Ten Best Books of the year. Like Adichie, it straddles the cultures of America and Nigeria, considering the challenges, status, and perceptions of Africans abroad. Themes of race, displacement, power and class are combined with humor, popular culture and a gripping love story. Her previous books include the novels Half of a Yellow Sun and Purple Hibiscus and the story collection The Thing Around Your Neck,. The recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, Adichie was named one of the twenty most important fiction writers today under 40 years old by The New Yorker.