Renowned Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie started 2023 on a good note as she was given a chieftaincy title in her community.
On her Facebook page, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wrote:
“I am so grateful to my people of Abba in Anambra State for their warmth and love, for their enthusiastic support.
And to Igwe L.N. Ezeh, who has always valued education, for giving me the title of “Odeluwa” — ‘the one who writes for the world.’ (My father received the title of “Odelora” — ‘the one who writes for the community” and the symbolism means very much to me.)
I am the first woman in my hometown to be made a chief, and it makes me happy to know that more women will follow. Culture does not make people, people make culture. Cultures thrive when they best serve and reflect the people. Ours must become a culture that celebrates achievement, whether it comes from a man or a woman.
It was a day filled with joyful moments but the highlight for me was the sight of many children on the dusty road, laughing and waving and shouting ‘Odeluwa!’ Amongst them, I hope, were little girls with their hearts full of dreams who feel encouraged to keep trying, to keep going.”❤️
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian writer whose works include novels, short stories and nonfiction.
She was described in The Times Literary Supplement as “the most prominent” of a “procession of critically acclaimed young anglophone authors [which] is succeeding in attracting a new generation of readers to African literature“, particularly in her second home, the United States.
Adichie was born in the city of Enugu in Nigeria, the fifth of six children in an Igbo family. She was raised in the university town of Nsukka in Enugu State. While she was growing up, her father, James Nwoye Adichie (1932–2020), worked as a professor of statistics at the University of Nigeria. Her mother, Grace Ifeoma (1942–2021), was the university’s first female registrar. Her family’s ancestral village is Abba in Anambra State.
In a 2014 interview, Adichie said on feminism and writing: “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 world view must somehow be part of my work.”
In 2009, Adichie married Ivara Esege, a Nigerian doctor. They have one daughter, who was born in 2016.
Adichie divides her time between the United States and Nigeria, where she teaches writing workshops.