Full Name: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Date of Birth: 15 September 1977, Enugu, Enugu State, Nigeria
Nationality: Nigerian
Ethnicity: Igbo
Genre: fiction, essays, poetry
Occupation: Novelist, short story writer, nonfiction writer
Notable awards: Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun, Americanah
Spouse: Ivara Esege
Website: chimamanda.com
Facebook: facebook.com/chimamandaadichie
Early Life
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born on 15 September 1977 in Enugu, Nigeria, the fifth of six children to Igbo parents, Grace Ifeoma and James Nwoye Adichie. While the family’s ancestral hometown is Abba in Anambra State, Chimamanda grew up in Nsukka, in the house formerly occupied by Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe. Chimamanda’s father, who is now retired, worked at the University of Nigeria, located in Nsukka. He was Nigeria’s first professor of statistics, and later became Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University. Her mother was the first female registrar at the same institution.
Chimamanda completed her secondary education at the University’s school, receiving several academic prizes. She went on to study medicine and pharmacy at the University of Nigeria for a year and a half. During this period, she edited The Compass, a magazine run by the University’s Catholic medical students.
At the age of nineteen, Chimamanda left for the United States. She gained a scholarship to study communication at Drexel University in Philadelphia for two years, and she went on to pursue a degree in communication and political science at Eastern Connecticut State University. While in Connecticut, she stayed with her sister Ijeoma, who runs a medical practice close to the university.
Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieChimamanda graduated summa cum laude from Eastern in 2001, and then completed a master’s degree in creative writing at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore.
It is during her senior year at Eastern that she started working on her first novel, Purple Hibiscus, which was released in October 2003. The book has received wide critical acclaim: it was shortlisted for the Orange Fiction Prize (2004) and was awarded the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book (2005).
Her second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun (also the title of one of her short stories), is set before and during the Biafran War. It was published in August 2006 in the United Kingdom and in September 2006 in the United States. Like Purple Hibiscus, it has also been released in Nigeria.
Chimamanda was a Hodder fellow at Princeton University during the 2005-2006 academic year, and earned an MA in African Studies from Yale University in 2008.
Her collection of short stories, The Thing around Your Neck, was published in 2009.
In 2011-2012, Chimamanda was awarded a fellowship by the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, which allowed her to finalize her third novel, Americanah. The book was released to great critical acclaim in 2013.
Chimamanda is now married and divides her time between Nigeria, where she regularly teaches writing workshops, and the United States.
Awards & Distinctions
BBC Short Story Competition 2002 joint winner, for ‘That Harmattan Morning’
O. Henry Prize 2003, for ‘The American Embassy’
David T. Wong International Short Story Prize 2002/2003 (PEN Center Award), for ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’
Hurston/Wright Legacy Award 2004 (Best Debut Fiction Category), for Purple Hibiscus
Commonwealth Writers’ Prize 2005: Best First Book (Africa), for Purple Hibiscus
Commonwealth Writers’ Prize 2005: Best First Book (overall), for Purple Hibiscus
Anisfield-Wolf Book Award 2007 (fiction category), for Half of a Yellow Sun (joint winner with Martha Collins, for Blue Front)
PEN ‘Beyond Margins’ Award 2007, for Half of a Yellow Sun (joint winner with Ernest Hardy for his essay collection Blood
Beats, Vol. 1, Harryette Mullen for her poetry anthology, Recyclopedia, and Alberto R�os for his poetry collection, Theater of Night)
Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction 2007, for Half of a Yellow Sun
2008 Future… Award (Young Person of the Year category)
2008 MacArthur Foundation ‘genius’ grant (along with 24 other winners)
2009 International Nonino Prize
Listed among The New Yorker’s ’20 Under 40', 2010
2013 Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize (fiction category), for Americanah
Listed among the ‘Ten Best Books of 2013’, New York Times Book Review, for Americanah
Listed among the ‘Top Ten Books of 2013’, BBC, for Americanah
Listed among the ‘100 Most Influential Africans 2013’, New African
Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award 2013 (fiction category), for Americanah
Listed among the ‘Leading Women of 2014’ by CNN
Listed among the ‘100 Most Influential People’ by Time Magazine, 2015
Listed among the ‘100 Dynamic Women’ by Arise Magazine, 2015
Nominations
Shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing 2002, for ‘You in America’
Runner-up in the Commonwealth Short Story Competition 2002, for ‘The Tree in Grandma’s Garden’
Shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2004, for Purple Hibiscus
Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2004, for Purple Hibiscus
Nominated for the YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) Best Books for Young Adults Award (2004), for Purple Hibiscus
Shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize 2004/2005, for Purple Hibiscus
Nominated for the 33rd Annual National Book Critics Circle Prize (2006), for Half of a Yellow Sun
Shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize 2007: Best Book (Africa), for Half of a Yellow Sun
Nominated for the British Book Awards 2007, category ‘Richard & Judy Best Read of the Year’, for Half of a Yellow Sun
Nominated for the James Tait Black Memorial prize 2007, for Half of a Yellow Sun
Longlisted for the International Impac Dublin Award 2008, for Half of a Yellow Sun
Nominated for the Reader’s Digest Author of the Year Award 2008
Longlisted for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award 2009, for The Thing around Your Neck
Shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize 2009, for The Thing around Your Neck
Shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize 2010: Best Book (Africa), for The Thing around Your Neck
Nominated for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize 2010, for The Thing around Your Neck (runner-up)
Nominated for the 2011 ThisDay Awards, ‘New Champions for an Enduring Culture’ category
Shortlisted for the Baileys Women’s Book Prize for Fiction, 2014, for Americanah
Nominated for the 2014 MTV Africa Music Awards, ‘Personality of the Year’ category
Nominated for the 2014 Forbes Africa ‘Person of the Year’ Award
Nominated for the 2014 YNaija! Person of the Year Award
Shortlisted for the International Impac Dublin Award 2015, for Americanah
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