Book World Live

In 1997, I left home to attend college in America. When I returned four years later with the final page proofs of my first novel, my parents had put a desk in my room. It was square and sturdy, and I spread out my page proofs and edited and marked them there. Two years later, when I returned to work on my second novel, my parents had installed an air conditioner; the lights blinked when I turned it on. I transcribed interviews and edited old writing at the dining table or at my father's desk in the study, where new television satellite wires trailed under the door. But I wrote only in my room and, from time to time, I would look out at the veranda, where years of rain had stained the floor a dull gray.-- The Writing Life (Book World, June 17, 2007)

Nigerian novelist Ngozi Adichie fielded questions and comments about her latest work, "Half of a Yellow Sun" and the writing life.

Last week, "Half of a Yellow Sun" won the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction is the 2006 winner of the Book Critics Circle Award. Adichie's first novel, "Purple Hibiscus" won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. Adichie is currently doing graduate work in African Studies at Yale University.

Join Book World Live each Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET for a discussion based on a story or review in each Sunday's Book World section.

____________________

N.A.: Hello everyone! Lovely to be here and thank you for taking the time to post your questions.

_______________________

Washington D.C: This is more of a comment. I am a fellow Nigerian and it warms my heart when I hear of Nigerians that are doing great things. Please my sister keep up the Good work, and may God continue to light up your path.

Ngozi Adichie: Thank you. It is always encouraging to hear back from fellow Nigerians.

_______________________

Washington DC: You have acknowledged the influence of Chinua Achebe on your work. In Purple Hibiscus some of the themes and characters seem to echo those in Things Fall Apart.

In some ways Kambili's father in

Purple Hibiscus could almost be the son who runs away to the missionaries in Things Fall Apart. There are also similarities between Okonkwo and Kambili's father in their pride and intransigence. I'm curious as to how consciously you tried to play with similar themes and issues in Purple Hibiscus.

Ngozi Adichie: It wasn't conscious at all. I think in some ways the themes are similar because Achebe and I are dealing with the same reality.

_______________________

Silver Spring, MD: Attending Post Secondary school at Onitcha, Nigeria in the mid sixties, Chinua Achebe's novels- Things Fall Apart and No Longer at Ease had profound inpact in my life. I did my Thesis on both novels while attending universities in Washington, DC. Did any of these novels influence your writing?

Ngozi Adichie: All of Chinua Achebe's novels have been of profound importance to me. Arrow of God is my favourite.

_______________________

Spokane, Wash: Congratulations Chima. I am a Nigerian/American and proud of my 2 heritage. My question is how has your sojourn in America influenced your writing. I know of course that your Nigerian experience looms large in your novels but I am curious to find out how your sojourn as student in America impacted you as a person and as a writer.

Thanks

Ngozi Adichie: Going to college here in the US helped me see Nigeria from the outside: sometimes the fish bowl is clearer when you are looking in from the outside. It also made me confront the question of 'identity.' But I do think that, because I was born and raised in Nigeria, my sensibility is Nigerian, ineluctably so.

_______________________

Vienna, VA: In Half of A Yellow Sun, in a twist that left me and some of my friends, quite disappointed and upset, Kainene disappears and never returns. Did you find in your research for this book that there were many cases of unexplained disappearances during the Biafran War? And if so, was it something that happened primarily to women?

Ngozi Adichie: Yes, it was something that I came across quite often -- and which haunted me. I can only imagine what it must be like for all the families who remain, today, suspended between mourning and slender hope. The stories I heard were mostly about men, actually. But one story was of a woman who had gone on 'afia attack' and never came back, which then formed the basis of what happens to Kainene. I wanted very much to honor this disappearances; we can assume that these people died but then one can never be completely sure. I understand that it is an upsetting ending to the novel but I think it is a necessary one as well.

_______________________

Clifton, VA: Hi Chimamanda! It's Gracie from GMU! Lynnie says "Hi." Anyways, I wanted to ask you, why you chose to end the novel the way you did, leaving the reader questioning what happened to Kainene at the end.

We love you!

Hugglez- Gracie and Lynnie

Ngozi Adichie: Gracie, you lovely woman! I think I just answered a question about the ending. It was about wanting to honor the reality of what had actually happened to a number of people. Also, I didn't want that sort of neat 'closure' ending; I think it would have been disingenuous to do that with a book about the Nigeria-Biafra war.

_______________________

Little Rock, Ark: I read a short story of yours recently in Granta.

The story described a group of African writers picked to attend a writer's colony run by whites.

It blew me away.

My question is: Do you find it difficult as an African writer negotiating a white audience? What are some common misconceptions?

Ngozi Adichie: Thanks. That story was loosely based on my experience at a writers' workshop. There are so many common misconceptions about Africa, mostly about how 'different' Africa is. And it is -- but it is also just as human as the rest of the world. Sometimes people are surprised that Africans have the same fundamentally human feelings that they have.

_______________________

Washington, DC: Dear Chimamanda,

I adored both of your books. I'm interested in knowing how you would characterize Igbo Yoruba relations in present day Nigeria? Are there any tensions beyond the political sphere?

Ngozi Adichie: Yes, there are, because -- unfortunately -- ethnicity in Nigeria became politicized during colonialism andafterwards Nigerians themselves continued this sad practice. But I am from a hopeful generation (and it helps that I have Yoruba in-laws) and I know that we can live together and that with the right kind of leadership, we will come to see ethnicity in CULTURAL rather than POLICTICAL terms.

_______________________

Kensington, MD: I have studied English literature for a long time, but have only recently discovered African writers. Many years ago, I even took a course on colonial literature, and we seemed to do our best to avoid your continent.

I am thankful to have discovered in particular your work and that of Chinua Achebe. They have a beauty to them that is unique in the world of English literature. My God, even the title you picked evokes that. Are there any other works by African writers that you would recommend, and what writers do you most identify with?

Warmest regards.

Ngozi Adichie: Good to hear! Writers I would recommend: Buchi Emecheta. Ngugi wa Thiongo. Chris Abani. Sefi Atta. Helon Habila.

I identify with good writing generally, no matter where it comes from. I grew up loving the Russians. FATHERS AND SONS remains one of my favourite novels. Chinua Achebe's work is the most important to me.

_______________________

Bubu Maduka Silver spring,Maryland: Dear Ngozi,

I do hope my name rings a bell from old Nsukka days! I just wanted to express my boundless joy at your success in writing. Your books are wonderful, they take me back to a place I will forever know as my only home.

Keep up the wonderful work, You do us all proud.

Ngozi Adichie: Bubu! How nice. I have good memories of the 'Youth Forum' days.

_______________________

Coeur d'alene, Idaho: The Nigerian movies industry (Nollywood) is growing in leaps and bounds all over the world. It is now the 3rd most important industry in art after Hollywod and Bollywood. Have you been approached by Nigerian movie director/producers for a screen play of any of your novels? Or will you rather wait for Hollywood to make the first pitch?

Ngozi Adichie: There is some interest by a film company outside Nigeria. I love Nollywood and also find it deeply flawed because it is over-controlled by the marketers for whom quality is not the major concern. But I love that we are consuming what we produce -- an increasing rarity indeed

_______________________

Washington, DC: Hello, Chimamanda,

I loved Purple Hibiscus and look forward to Half of a Yellow Sun. Here's a question for you: There seems to be a thriving African diaspora of writers and poets in England and Scotland (and now with those like you, in America). To what do you attribute this? More interest on the part of publishers? More drama in your native countries that needs to be relayed? It's such a pleasure to read writers of literary English who are from such wide and disparate backgrounds.

Ngozi Adichie: I'd attribute it to more publishers in the West being more open-minded and more willing to take risks. And perhaps to globalization making us all take notice of the larger world outside.

_______________________

Freising, Germany: In reading the description of your book, I was reminded of Gladys in Chinua Achebe's "Girls at War". Has Achebe's depictions of the Biafran War influenced your thoughts on Biafra and Nigeria?

Also, I've met many Igbo Nigerians outside of Africa, but only a couple of Yorubans. It seems that of all Nigerians, the Igbo people tend to travel more than Yorubans and Hausas, and there also seem to be more writers and storytellers like yourself from the Igbo people. Do you think that storytelling is part of the Igbo culture?

Ngozi Adichie: I think story-telling is a part of all human cultures, actually. Its the way in which we make sense of being alive. Chinua Achebe's war fiction was certainly an influece. It, as well as others, gave me a sense of middle-class Biafra.

The Igbo have long been an entrepreneurial and adaptable people, perhaps because ancestral Igbo land is densely populated and so some just had to leave!

_______________________

Washigton, DC: Dear Chimamanda, I have a question about Richard and Kainene's relationship in Half a Yellow Sun. What was the significance of Richard's sexual dysfunction?

Ngozi Adichie: It was simply sexual dysfunction borne of anxiety. Any metaphors people have read into it were not intended.

_______________________

Washington DC: Forty years after, how difficult was is it to vividly capture the intensity and violence of the Biafran War? As a Kenyan, the Mau Mau Emergency that occurred in my country in the 1950's is a war in which institutional and collective memory in the fight against British colonialism has been lost either purposefully through suppression, or alternately by the painful need to forget the suffering of that period by those involved. How did you overcome this amnesia of this period?

Ngozi Adichie: I recently read a piece about the Mau Mau in Kwani? journal and I understand what you mean. Biafra isn't something the people who lived through it like to talk about much either. But I was interested in the 'small' stories. It was easier to get people talking about what food they ate in Biafra than to get them to talk about their tangled loyalties to the cause or to their feelings about the leader Ojukwu, that sort of thing. So I supppose one can do it if one focuses on the tiny things. The big things will then emerge.

_______________________

Columbia, Md: Hi Chimamanda,

I have been captivated by your work, having read both novels and articles from your website. I have many Igbo friends and have been privileged to visit Nigeria twice. Half of a Yellow Sun touched my heart and helped me understand my friends and their history. Bless you and keep writing...Anne

Ngozi Adichie: Thank you, Anne.

_______________________

Dallas, Tex: Our book group read Half of a Yellow Sun, but I missed the discussion, so have a couple of questions:

1. There is a section of the book where you skip some events and skip ahead to the late 60s, (the time of the Biafran revolution), but then in the next section the narrative goes back to explain what happened among the 2 main couples. What was you reason for this delayed revelation of the ruptures between the sisters, etc.?

2. It appears from the recent elections in Nigeria that the same north-south divisions are still in play, a full generation later. What is your perspective on the hope for resolutions of these conflicts and for a stable government & economy in Nigeria?

Ngozi Adichie: The shift was because I wanted to break the war narrative because I was worried about becoming overwhelmed by the descent into war. I wanted to go back and remind myself and the reader of the 'ordinary' lives of the characters. Also, I wanted some narrative tension -- to keep the poor reader turning those pages!

_______________________

Washington, D. C. : I have not lauged so much with a book in a long time. Ugwu, Jomo,Harrison are my favorites. I am only half way (Olanna & Richard have just touched bases).

You really capture the spirit of these characters and they make such nice contrast to just about all of the classes - from village to the twins mother & father - in fact, the lot of the upper crust. Please talk about the house help and why they are so strong in your novel, as indeed they are in the life of families?

You made me miss university life - writing letters to the newspaper, discussions at each others houses. Just beautiful.

I am an African American but University life (at Ife)I do know. You made me homesick for that life.

Do you have a question for readers? I am one of the discussion leaders for your book. We are "Readers Corner" at Transafrica here in D.C. Thanks and Congratulations.

R. Marcella Burton

Ngozi Adichie: Thanks Marcella.

The houseboy is the soul of the book because I sometimes think that middle class Nigerians don't always grasp how central domestic workers are and sometimes don't see them as human beings with feelings.

Ugwu was partly inspired by Mellitus, my parents' houseboy during the war and partly by Fide, the houseboy we had when I was growing up, whom I came to love like a brother and who later died as a soldier in Sierra Leone

_______________________

Washington D.C.: Dear Chimamanda,

I am a native Washingtonian who loves to eat. Have you ever had a Slurpee from 7-11? And if so, what is your favourite flavor? I'm partial to the cherry flavor myself!

Ngozi Adichie: Don't slurpees have too much sugar? I like a good smoothie with fruit and yogurt.

_______________________

Fairfax, VA: Hello Chimamanda,

Thanks for introducing the world to beautiful Nsukka. In addition to your novels, I greatly enjoy your essays/commentaries that are published in various locations. What piece has generated the most discussion? What was its impact?

Ngozi Adichie: I think perhaps it was a piece I wrote in the Nigerian Sunday Sun newspaper about the priests at my local Catholic Church in Nsukka. I was, still am, enraged by their draconian practices (bullying people into giving money, refusing sacraments to people who owe the church, sending women out of the church for wearing trousers, etc) and I am told that lots and lots of people wrote to the newspaper in reaction to my piece -- and many of them in support of the priests.

_______________________

Washington, DC: What advice can you give other aspiring novelists?

Ngozi Adichie: Read. Read. Read.

Don't think of 'audience' when you write.

Re-write obsessively

Engage with the world

_______________________

Alexandria, VA: Chimamanda,

I am Nigerian, grew up in Enugu as well and close friends with an old class mate of yours, Chete Ezenliam. I am so proud of you and I made my book club read your first book. We intend to read Half of a yellow Sun as well. I am glad and very honored to see African stories published and recognized in the West. We do have stories to tell not just the images often shown on television. Keep up the good work. ---Adaora

Ngozi Adichie: Thanks Adaora.

I agree -- there are so many other stories of Africa to be told. We don't deny that there are problems in African countries but starvation and war and AIDS are not the only things happening there. People are laughing. People are working and marrying and falling in love and cooking. And people are thinking of ways to solve their problems. The recent TED conference in Arusha, Tanzania has reminded me, again, of the incredible initiative Africans show for Africa

_______________________

Philadelphia, Pa.: What are you current writing and what has inspired your current work?

Ngozi Adichie: I'm thinking of the next book which, if it happens, will be about Nigerians in America and my perception of Nigerians who have made America their home.

_______________________

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL: Hello Ngozi,

I am Nigerian writer of novels, short stories and Poetry.

I am based in Sao Paulo brazil.

What do you think a modern novelist should have in mind while writing? Sometimes I get lost while writing because of a globalised, realty-show world. How can we reconcile writing without compromising literature for literature sake?

Thanks

Temple Ineh

Sao Paulo

Brazil

Ngozi Adichie: Perhaps you should write about the globalized, reality-show world -- if that is what you get lost in. There is enough room in the world of literature to accommodate all subjects. I have always believed that novels are not about subjects themselves but about what the writer does with the subjects.

_______________________

Josh Arinze, Washington, DC: Hello Chimamanda,

Congrats on your award. It's great that you chose to focus on Biafra in "Half of a Yellow Sun," especially since the story is so unfamiliar to people below 40. Did it surprise you in your research to find that the human cost of the war was even heavier than you thought? Just curious. Since 2002, I've been doing research for a book (non-fiction) on Biafra, and the more I delve into it, the more I realize the sheer scale of the suffering the Igbo people endured in that war and even more by how far they have come in their ongoing struggle to recover from it. I'm a Biafra survivor, by the way; I was almost 5 when the war broke out, and to this day, I'm amazed at how vivid some of its memories remain for me. I wouldn't have thought that a 5- or 6-year old boy would remember so much, but I do.

Ngozi Adichie: I'm not surprised to hear this, Josh. My sister was about your age too and she remembers quite clearly.

I was surprised by how much the Igbo had suffered. The Igbo did not suffer alone, one must remember, but I certainly believe that the Igbo suffered the most. It amazes me now to think that forty years ago I might have been lynched on a road in Lagos simply for being an Igbo person.

But I was also inspired by how people held on and by the matter of fact way that they talked about it. And I was inspired by the other actors in the war -- the foreigners, the non-Igbo Nigerians, who stood up and denounced the injustices done to the Igbo. And most of all, I was inspired by the incredible ingenuity of Biafrans during the war.

_______________________

Vienna, VA: I am in the process of negotiating the painful history of the Gukurahundi during the early days of my country's, Zimbabwe, independence as a backdrop for a novel but this is not all that the book is about. I have heard that you wanted to tell a "love story" between Odenigbo and Olanna. Do you feel you were successful in doing this? Was it hard for you to not overwhelm your protagonists' relationship with the war while staying true to the reality of what happened?

Ngozi Adichie: I think I was. I hope readers leave with the horrors of the war -- but also with the intense and complex love story of the characters

_______________________

Washington, DC: Greetings Chimamanda! Loved reading Purple Hibiscus and Half A Yellow Sun - I have made sure that both of my book club members and others have been made aware of your work. I have a question that a book club member posed to me and that was whether or not I think that there is a distinct style of writing that separates Nigerian writers from those representing the rest of the Continent of Africa? My other question is do you think that there is a specific style of writing attached to African writers in general, with regards to themes and structure? I am reminded of a recent critique that someone made of Chinua Achebe receiving the Booker prize and the person's comment was that he couldn't possibly represent Africa when the writing is so varied. Thank you!

Ngozi Adichie: I don't understand why African writers must 'represent Africa' as if Philip Roth winning a prize would then result in his representing America. We have to make room for the diversity of Africa but also we have to resist the definition of Africa as one thing. We are diverse and we are all African.

No, I don't think there is one 'African' style or Nigerian style. You need only to read Sozaboy, The Interpreters and Arrow of God to see what I mean. Then read The Beautyful Ones Are NOt Yet Born.

_______________________

Toronto, Ontario: Your writing style is inspirational. Not sure if its nature or nuture but you've got it. Can't wait for my son to be old enough to enjoy your work as well.

Sincerely,

N.A.

Ngozi Adichie: Dalu! Its great to hear from people with whom I share a childhood.

_______________________

Washington, DC: Do you think Univeristy of Nigeria, Nsukka will eventually turn House # 305 to a special colony for writers, because of its historic importance in Nigeria literature?

Sozaboy

Ngozi Adichie: I hope so!

_______________________

Washington, DC: Hello -- I look forward to reading both your books.

I have several ideas for novels pitching around in my mind and many of them have to do with Africa. I've been to East Africa and will return next year for an all too brief trip. I fell in love with it and can hardly wait to get back. All that being said, how do you, or would you, feel about a white woman (whom my many African friends call completely "Africanized") writing about Africa? It's not that I was born there, or spent a considerable amount of time in any of the countries there, but I admit to being completely transported by it. I discovered very early on that Africa wraps its warm and loving arms around you and will not let you unlock its embrace (as if I would ever want it to). It has invaded my heart and my soul and I have a love for that continent which cannot be described (making it a bit difficult to write a novel, I will admit). I'm even learning a bit of one of the tribal languages spoken in Zambia (my next stop).

Any tips for me?

Ngozi Adichie: The only tip I have is write what feels true to you.

And please don't do a Karen Blixenesque book

_______________________

Ngozi Adichie: Thanks to everyone for stopping by. Hearing back from readers -- and potential readers -- is always a huge inspiration, as long as they don't heckle (even that can inspire, however)

Best wishes to everyone!

_______________________

Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions. washingtonpost.com is not responsible for any content posted by third parties.