Thursday 14 October 2021

Chimananda Ngozi Adichie: Notes on Writing

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie,
Image Source:The Washington Post

What a few years it has been?! I hope you have kept well during such challenging times. I along with many people I know are now enjoying what was once taken very much for granted — socialising. Going out to a restaurant, theatre and jet-setting away on holiday have all taken on a new kind of norm.  Although we are still living with the global pandemic, I hope that the pandemic has now deferred to living with us, temporarily of course.

It is with much joy that I can actually write and share my recent literary shenanigans in the name of 'going out'. The last time I visited the Southbank Centre in south east London was to see Benjamin Zephaniah. So when I heard that places and spaces were opening up again, I eagerly checked out the listings and found some gems.

On 24 September, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Notes on Writing was held at the Royal Festival Hall. Chimamanda is the bestselling author of Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun. On the night, she reflected on writing and storytelling in conversation with Yomi Adegoke. She also discussed her most recent book, Notes on Grief  written following the death of her father last summer.

Image Source: Blackwells

My friends and I arrived thirty minutes early so as to soak up the exciting atmosphere in the Royal Festival Hall's foyer. The time soon passed and before we knew it, we were locating our seats.  Whilst keeping an eye on the two empty armchairs in readiness, I thought how lovely it was that we would soon be in the presence of such an iconic writer, who I've watched numerous times on YouTube. Now it was a whole different reality, I was going to see her in person.

As soon as 7.30 pm hit, Chimamanda and Yomi appeared and the whole audience woke up with welcoming roars and waves of applause. It was easy to get caught up in this momentous occasion and we enjoyed this warm rush of appreciation as much as she did.

Chimamanda started with a reading of chapter one from Notes on Grief.  I was struck by Chimamanda's openness and honesty as to how she felt, how angry she was that her family were getting prepared for her father's funeral proceedings:

"Grief is a cruel kind of education. You learn how ungentle mourning can be, how full of anger. You learn how glib condolences can feel. You learn how much grief is about language, the failure of language and the grasping for language."

L: Yomi Adegoke R: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

It was as if relatives speaking their condolences added more to the pain, the reality and finality of her loss.  Chimamanda wanted time to stand still for a while rather than go through the motions of liaising with family and friends although they meant well. She also had to mourn at a distance during the pandemic. During the lockdowns that spiralled like a domino effect around the world, Nigeria's airports weren't open which meant her father's funeral was constantly being postponed.

Notes on Grief written during the weeks and months following her father's death at the age of eighty-eight, is such a unique read. On the one hand, I can resonate with her words entirely yet she brings a kind of nuance to the language, reflections that are dignified and spiritually nurturing. In terms of her openness, I don't think I have heard death spoken about in such a poignant and realistic way to such a large audience. I listened intently to her mixture of sadness and humour at the way she wanted to resist dealing with grief itself seeing it as some kind of 'performative' action required of her:

"Grief is not gauzy; it is substantial, oppressive, a thing opaque. The weight is heaviest in the mornings, post-sleep: a leaden heart, a stubborn reality that refuses to budge. I will never see my father again. Never again."

Notes on Grief is a wonderful tribute to Chimamanda's father, James Nwoye Adichie, who was Nigeria's first professor of statistics.  Having now read a substantial amount, I found the book's structure of short, almost self-contained chapters works particularly well. It's as if grief can be divided into bite size chunks. Less is more.  The book isn't just for readers who have lost loved ones. Readers of Chimamanda's newest creation will not be disappointed as the story is a universal one. 

Bios:

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian writer whose works include novels, short stories and nonfiction. She has written novels: Purple Hibiscus (2003), Half of a Yellow Sun (2006), and Americanah (2013), the short story collection The Thing Around Your Neck (2009), and the book-length essay We Should All Be Feminists (2014). Her most recent books are Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions (2017), Zikora (2020) and Notes on Grief (2021). In 2008, she was awarded a MacArthur 'Genius' Grant.

Yomi Adegoke is a journalist for British Vogue, The Guardian and The i Newspaper. In 2018, she co-authored the book Slay In Your Lane: The Black Girl Bible with Elizabeth Uviebinene, for which she was named a Marie Clair Future Shaper and was awarded the Groucho Maverick Award. She is also a trustee of Arts Emergency, and a Forbes 30 Under 30 2021 honouree.


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