Chimamanda Adichie, best-selling Nigerian author and feminist says she doesn’t think herself an ambassador of Nigeria. She added that there are somethings about her country she doesn’t like.
The 42-year-old author revealed while speaking with TheAfricaReport on her convictions about colonialism, politics, and pop culture when she was asked if her global brand stands in as an ambassador for Nigeria.
“No. I am an ambassador for myself. I don’t represent Nigeria; there are things about Nigeria I don’t like. But, at the same time, I am very very proud of my Nigerian identity,” Adichie said.
“I was born and raised in Nigeria, which I didn’t leave until I was 19. I’m proud to be Nigerian, I’m proud to be African, I’m proud to be Igbo. I won’t who I am today if I wasn’t all of those things.”
Adichie speaks on U.S. citizenship
The novelist, who shuffles between Nigeria and the United States, also opened up on why she initially refused an American passport.
“For a long time, I didn’t want to become a US citizen because I believed that part of the experience of being Nigerian is experiencing the humiliations of traveling on a Nigerian passport,” she said.
She, however, added that she has since had a change of heart;, and it all started after her father’s famous kidnapping case.
“But I changed my mind about US citizenship after my father was kidnapped in 2015. And it was the American embassy in Lagos and not the Nigerian government who helped my family.
“They even sent a therapist to my father after he was released. I now plan to become an American citizen at some point, but I guess I’m still delaying it.”
In March, Adichie had made headlines after she denied plagiarism claims of Anne Giwa-Amu, a Welsh writer and lawyer.
Giwa-Amu who authored a book entitled Sade in 1996 had earlier claimed that Chimamanda Adichie “stole” novel for the critically acclaimed Half of a Yellow Sun; produced in 2007.
Although, Anne Giwa-Amu stated she discovered the supposed plagiarism in 2013. She claimed she saw a poster in London, advertising the Biyi Bankole film adaptation of Adichie’s novel Half of a Yellow Sun.
Adichie has earned huge recognition for her works, which have been translated into several languages, receiving the United Nations Foundation’s Global Leadership Award in 2019.