Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi, 1977–, one of the leading African writers of her generation, b. Enugu, Nigeria. She left Nigeria for the United States in 1997 to study, and since has split her time between the two countries. Her earliest literary works were a poetry collection, Decisions (1997), a play, For Love of Biafra (1998), and short stories. Her critically acclaimed first novel, Purple Hibiscus (2003), a story of adolescence and the bonds of family, set in Nigeria, won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. It was followed by Half of a Yellow Sun (2006, film 2013), a tale of the savage war in Biafra, mainly as experienced by a group of middle-class Nigerians; a worldwide bestseller, it won the Orange Prize. Americanah (2013) tells of a young Nigerian woman experiencing love and what it is to be black in a racially conflicted America. The Thing around Your Neck collects her short stories. Adichie also gave a popular TED talk, The Danger of a Single Story (2009), and TEDx talk, We Should All Be Feminists (2013, adapted and pub. 2014), and wrote Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions (2017). She has received many awarsa and honors including a MacArthur grant (2008).
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