<
https://theconversation.com/20-years-after-the-publication-of-purple-hibiscus-a-generation-of-african-writers-have-followed-in-chimamanda-ngozi-adichies-footsteps-214052>
"Twenty years ago, in October 2003, 26-year-old Nigerian author Chimamanda
Ngozi Adichie burst onto the North American publishing scene with her debut
novel, “Purple Hibiscus.”
Since then, Adichie’s literary fame has only grown: She’s published two more
novels and a collection of short stories, while two of her TED talks have
garnered tens of millions of views. In September 2023, she published her first
children’s book – a joyful celebration of mother-daughter love – under the nom
de plume Nwa Grace-James.
But the October 2003 publication of “Purple Hibiscus” didn’t just signal the
start of a single author’s brilliant career. It also forged a path for a whole
new generation of African novelists who had come to America as immigrants or
students and who have been mining that experience in their writing.
The struggles to get published by prior generations of African authors are
almost legendary. Thirty years apart, Chinua Achebe and Tsitsi Dangarembga have
both described how close their manuscripts of “Things Fall Apart” (1958) and
“Nervous Conditions” (1988) came to being lost. Achebe’s only copy of the
manuscript was a handwritten draft. He sent it to a typing agency in London
that nearly dismissed it as a joke. Dangarembga’s manuscript sat unread in the
basement of a British publishing house for years. Only when the writer stopped
by the offices during a work trip to London did the editors agree to read it.
Through attending American MFA programs, however, Adichie and her
contemporaries were able to tap into the networks of agents and found their
work snapped up by American publishers."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
