I have failed miserably to write this post for many months. Chimamanda is not just one of my favourite authors, but also an inspirational figure to me and I am just not going to be able to do her justice.
Picture the scene: an incredibly wet and muddy Hay festival; wind gusts making the various tented arenas creak, sway and flap; slopping through mud in wellies; layers upon layers filling all the space in your raincoat; hood up and pulled tightly around your face; in other words, glamour count at a minus figure. You are waiting excitedly to see the author of a book you are in the process of reading, when suddenly along glides an incredibly glamorous female in high heels, gorgeous dress and shawl and perfect make up and hair. I'm not talking of those orange-tanned, bleach-haired horrors of supposed glamour but of someone who just simply oozes stardom.
Yes, Chimamanda and all her glorious charm had arrived.
She is both eloquent, educated and intelligent. Those who know me, have often had to put up with my rages regarding politics and Adiche held no fear in directly commenting of those in her home country of Nigeria and of passing wry comments about those a little closer to us! Below are links to her renouned TED speech entitled "The Danger of the Single Story" and her 2012 Commonwealth Lecture that I saw at Hay-on-Wye, "To instruct and delight: a case for the realist novel". Both are worth your time!
http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmsYJDP8g2U
I highly recommend all of her writing and have had her next offering on pre-order for months. For now I will allow you to discover her brilliance and her charm.
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