Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Speaks About Feminism, Fashion and Family with Vogue

by Andrea on Mar 16th, 2015

Vogue has featured an extensive interview with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, as well as a daily fashion feature.

Adichie, whose most recent novel is Americanah, gave the interview from her home in Nigeria. She divides her time between there and the “really mixed neighbourhood” she calls home in America, and speaks about the importance of feminism in both of her home countries.

Adichie’s first TED talk, “The Danger of a Single Story”, was widely successful, and her second, “We Should All Be Feminists”, was sampled in a Beyoncé song. Adichie says she did not expect the talks to elevate her to celebrity status.

Read the interview:

Adichie insists – and I believe her – that she was taken aback by the success of both of those talks which, it could be argued, changed her from a successful author into a celebrity, although “celebrity” is a concept she clearly distrusts. “The things I think will do really well are not the things that do really well,” she says, laughing. You might guess from looking at photographs of her that she is a very serious person, but her laughter comes easily and often. She said yes to the 2013 TED invitation mainly because it was organised by her brother, Chuks, who works in information technology and development, and she wanted to help him out. “But I thought, I don’t have anything to talk about. I’m not the kind of person who can manufacture things when I don’t care deeply about them. But my brother said, well, there is this one thing you give us endless lectures about…” A mock-serious look crosses her face. “Because it’s known in my family, you don’t want to demean women in my presence! And I knew this wasn’t a comfortable subject, particularly for the people I was addressing, an African audience.

Complete interview: Vogue

For the month of March, Adichie is sharing daily photographs of her everyday fashion in Vogue&rsquo “Today I’m Wearing”. Have a look at what she is wearing today: