At about the age of seven โฆ I wrote exactly the kinds of stories I was reading: All my characters were white and blue-eyed, they played in the snow, they ate apples, and they talked a lot about the weather: how lovely it was that the sun had come out. This despite the fact that I lived in Nigeria; we didnโt have snow, we ate mangoes, and we never talked about the weather, because there was no need to.
Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieI had people read it early on and, you know, well-meaning people said to me, you should take out the blogs. I didn't get much positive feedback. Only because most of these people were protective of me - it was sort of like a "tone it down, make it easier to swallow" kind of thing. And I just thought if I do that then it's not the book I want to write.
Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieI would come, many years later, to understand why To Kill A Mockingbird is considered an important novel, but when I first read it at 11, I was simply absorbed by the way it evoked the mysteries of childhood, of treasures discovered in trees, and games played with an exotic summer friend.
Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieHow [stories] are told, who tells them, when theyโre told, how many stories are told โ are really dependent on power.
Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieCreative writing programmes are not very necessary. They just exist so that people like us can make a living.
Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieIf the government doesn't fund education, which they often don't, students are going to stay home and not go to school. It affects them directly. But I'm really not interested in writing explicitly about that. I'm really interested in human beings, and in love, and in family. Somehow, politics comes in.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie