Commonwealth Lecture 2012 with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Commonwealth Foundation is honoured to announce that the 15th Commonwealth Lecture will be delivered by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. In the magnificent setting of the Guildhall in the heart of the City of London, Chimamanda will be speaking on the 2012 Commonwealth Theme: ‘Connecting Cultures’.
Born in Nigeria, Chimamanda is the author of two novels, Half of a Yellow Sun, which won the Orange Prize and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and Purple Hibiscus, which won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. Her most recent book was The Thing Around Your Neck, a collection of stories, which was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book in Africa. She is the recipient of a 2008 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. She was named one of the twenty most important fiction writers today under 40 years old by The New Yorker.

‘Connecting Cultures’ celebrates the diverse mix of people across the Commonwealth united with shared values and vision. Together, these 54 nations represent over two billion people of different faiths and ethnicities, where cultural expression is an essential means of identity and exchange.


Date: Thursday 15 March 2012, 6.30pm

Venue: Guildhall, Gresham Street, London EC2V 7HH

Book your ticket here.

Chimamanda's Classic Football Article...

Yay, we have a new template. Tell us what you think about it!

Chimamanda writes this sweet piece in the Guardian on football and nationalism. The football field is one place where we are united. Or when we are watching those on the field...The cup has come to Africa, does it mean that the world is one? Reminds me of a funny World Cup ad by a big multinational here; it reads: Let's Get Behind Africa. Sure an editor missed the ambiguity of the words. Enjoy the piece!

"I remember feeling very light, hugging everyone, laughing, repeating the same things that somebody else had just said. We hugged neighbours we did not like. We offered drinks and relived the game over and over. From the streets came the sounds of car horns, of shouting, of singing.

What happened that night was an explosion of nationalism of a certain kind, a benign, forgiving, optimistic nationalism. We forgot about neighbours who stole our electricity wires and leaders who stole our oil money. We all became, for that moment, Nigerians who had contributed to the vanquishing of the world.

Still, football nationalism, for many of us, often expands past Nigeria, and into the rest of Africa. I do not ordinarily much care for football or for excessive nationalism, but whenever Nigeria plays a major game, I find myself undergoing a transformation. I kick the air as I watch. I scream. I pray. I will the universe to make us win."

Read complete article here. 

Our Online Reading list

Never mind that we've been away for almost a week. You know now, the way companies go on some certain kinds of retreat after a year or more to re-strategise, is it not what it's called? Yes, we were in that mode for almost a week brainstorming on the different attractions to make Bookaholic Blog as sweet as ever. It's all for you our teeming readers :) :)

We were also reading while this was on...so here's a list of our favourite online reading list.

Sentinel Nigeria  Magazine is finally out. Yay! And you can read the best of Nigerian writing only with a click. You can also consider submitting for their next issue. Sentinel Magazine UK too is out here. 

Guernica Mag--fabulous magazine of contemporary or arts and politics. And yes, they featured Chimamanda's latest short story Quality Street and Simpatico from Sefi Atta. 

The New Black Magazine--contemporary arts, politics, news, a beautiful pot-pourri of some sorts. 

Helon Habila reviews Chinua Achebe's latest offering, The Education of a British-Protected Child.

Wordsbody, an arts and culture blog with a huge following (Bookaholic Blog inclusive) was away for almost a year but is back, with a bang. 

Per Contra, international journal of arts, literature and ideas is out with their latest issue. 

All ye writers looking for a publisher, well Mosuro Publisher have a blog here. 

We wish we could actually do mini-reviews of these websites but we leave you to enjoy your reading trip. Now you have enough to keep you busy till next week. No, we will be back before then :)

Now Tell us: Who is your fav Fiction Character?

I have read Toni Morrison's Beloved (you know I'm a fan already!) and absolutely find it hard to get Beloved, the character, the Baby Ghost off my mind. Not my fault, Morrison did a fantastic job with that character even as she made her stride both worlds of the living and the dead.

Now come to Africa, there's a way Ben Okri (though most of his stories seem plot-driven) makes his character a part of you--you can literally touch them; almost believe that they live very close to you. Now, that's good writing. If you've read Famished Road, and know the Abiku child; you will understand what mean.

Final example--Kainene in Chimamanda's Half of a Yellow Sun was a strong one for me. Though not the stereotype African woman--she shows that there are no limits; that the only limits to being who you want to be exists, not really in the society, but in your mind. After closing the last page of the book, I dreamt of Kainene, I joined in the search for her, in my mind. Somehow, I think I still search for her!

Now, you tell us--who is your favourite fiction character? Why do you love them?

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in elan

Hot off a worldwide book tour, a recent appearance on CNN’s African Voices, and a reading for fans at the Silverbird Galleria earlier on in the week, Chimamanda Adichie is prime media gold.As the foremost fiction writer to come out of Nigeria in the past decade, she has made the Nigerian experience coffee table discussion among literary critics, bookworms and fans spanning the different continents of the world.

Her critical acclaim came with her first novel Purple Hibiscus, winning the coveted Best First Book award at the 2005 Commonwealth Writers Series. Her second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun, won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2007.

With a new book recently released, The Thing Around Your Neck, she took time out to sign my copy and chat about her views on natural hair, the importance of reading and why she does not own a pair of jeans.

Read the rest here.

Farafina Trust Creative Writing Workshop Sponsored by Nigerian Breweries

Farafina Trust will be holding a creative writing workshop in Lagos, organized by award-winning writer and creative director of Farafina Trust, Chimamanda Adichie, from September 17 to September 26 2009. The workshop is sponsored by Nigerian Breweries Plc. Guest writers who will co-teach the workshop alongside Adichie are the Caine Prize Winning Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainaina author of DISCOVERING HOME, the PEN/Faulkner Malamud Award Winning writer Nathan Englander author of FOR THE RELIEF OF UNBEARABLE URGES. Guardian Fiction prize winning author of TRUMPET Jackie Kay, Booker-nominated English author of NOTES ON A SCANDAL Zoe Heller and others.

The workshop will take the form of a class. Participants will be assigned a wide range of reading exercises, as well as daily writing exercises. The aim of the workshop is to improve the craft of Nigerian writers and to encourage published and unpublished writers by bringing different perspectives to the art of storytelling. Participation is limited only to those who apply and are accepted.

To apply, send an e-mail to Udonandu2009@gmail.com

Your e-mail subject should read ‘Workshop Application.’

The body of the e-mail should contain the following:

1. Your Name

2. Your address

3. A few sentences about yourself

4. A writing sample of between 200 and 800 words. The sample must be either fiction or non-fiction.

All material must be pasted or written in the body of the e-mail. Please Do NOT include any attachments in your e-mail. Applications with attachments will be automatically disqualified. Deadline for submissions is July 30 2009. Only those accepted to the workshop will be notified by August 30 2009. Accommodation in Lagos will be provided for all accepted applicants who are able to attend for the ten-day duration of the workshop. A literary evening of readings, open to the public, will be held at the end of the workshop

Bookaholic with Bella: Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

An epic story of love and civil war set in Nigeria during the 1960s, Half of a Yellow Sun recounts the lives of three characters caught up in events larger than themselves: Ugwu, a young houseboy working for an idealistic university professor; Olanna, the professor’s mistress; and Richard, a British expatriate in love with Olanna’s twin sister Kainene. Their relationships are thrown into jeopardy when Richard spends one drunken night with Olanna, and as the war escalates.

With Half of a Yellow Sun, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie firmly establishes herself as a most powerful storyteller and humanist, “the 21^st century daughter of Chinua Achebe,” according to The Washington Post Book World. The book has won numerous awards and accolades worldwide, including the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction 2007.