13 Facts about Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

As part of the Dewey Challenge, Fizzy Thoughts is holding a mini challenge based around lists. The idea is to write a list of 13 facts based on an author or book you’ve read for the Dewey Challenge. I’m planning to read Half of a Yellow Sun soon, so I’ve found the following 13 facts about Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie:

1. She holds a Masters degree in Creative Writing from Johns Hopkins and a Masters degree in African Studies from Yale.
2. Her second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun, was named because it is a description of the flag of the short-lived Biafran nation.
3. Adichie’s grandfather died in a refugee camp during the war, a fact, she says, still made her cry while she was writing Half of a Yellow Sun.
4. She likes to be called by her first name, Chimamanda, and I doesn’t like anyone shortening it.
5. She doesn’t read any reviews of her books, whether they are good or bad, as she finds them ‘distracting’.
6. The literary talent she most admires are Iris Murdoch and Jamaica Kincaid.
7. Her favourite book is Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.
8. Her elder sister is a doctor, and she was planning to follow her in to medicine, but realised she didn’t want it enough.
9. Chimamanda was only 24 when she started writing Purple Hibiscus.
10. Her favourite time to write is late at night
11. Her favourite childhood books were the Famous Five Series.
12. Chimamanda means ‘My God will not Fail me’
13. She cried when reading Michael Ondaatje’s Anil’s Ghost.