Portal:Nigeria/Selected biography/27

[Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (born Grace Ngozi Adichie; 15 September 1977) is a Nigerian author. She has written five novels, two collections of short stories, one memoir, and many articles and short stories for many newspapers, magazines, and periodicals. She is widely regarded as a central figure in postcolonial feminist literature.

Born into an Igbo family in Enugu, Nigeria, Adichie was educated at University of Nigeria in Nsukka where she studied medicine for a year and half. Adichie left Nigeria at the age of 19 to study at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and would go on to study at a further three universities, all in the U.S.: Eastern Connecticut State University, Johns Hopkins University, and Yale University.

Many of Adichie's novels are set in Nsukka, Nigeria, where she grew up. She started writing during her university education. She first wrote Decisions (1997), a poetry collection, followed by a play, For Love of Biafra (1998). She first achieved successes with her debut novel, Purple Hibiscus (2003). Adichie has written many works including novels, Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun (2006), Americanah (2013), and Dream Count (2025); essay collections, We Should All Be Feminists (2014) and Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions (2017); a memoir, Notes on Grief (2021); and a children's book, Mama's Sleeping Scarf (2023). She has cited Chinua Achebe and Buchi Emecheta as inspiration and her writing style juxtaposes Western and African influences, with particular influence from Igbo culture. Most of her works explore the themes of religion, immigration, gender and culture.