#DearIjeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions in stores now

From the best-selling author of Americanah and We Should All Be Feminists, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, comes a powerful new statement about feminism today—written as a letter to a friend.

Dear Ijeawele contains fifteen invaluable suggestions–compelling, direct, wryly funny, and perceptive–for how to empower a daughter to become a strong, independent woman. From teaching a young girl to read widely and recognise the role of language in reinforcing unhealthy social norms; encouraging her to choose a helicopter, and not only a doll, as a toy if she so desires; having open conversations with her about appearance, identity, and sexuality; criticising cultural norms surrounding marriage; and debunking the myths that women are somehow biologically designed to be in the kitchen, and that men can “allow” women to have full careers, Dear Ijeawele goes right to the heart of sexual politics in the twenty-first century. It will start a new and urgently needed conversation about what it really means to be a woman today.

Join the photo campaign. Share a quote that resonates with you using the hashtag #DearIjeawele

Dear Ijeawele will be available at the sales outlets listed below.

LAGOS

1. Quintessence Bookshop, 1 Park View Lane, Ikoyi (08026992535)
2. Patabah Bookstores, Adeniran Ogunsanya Shopping Mall, Surulere (08038303777)
3. Laterna Ventures, 1, Okoawo Street, VI (08057377916)
4. JED Megastores, The Palms, Lekki (09083365228)
5. The Booksellers, 2, Oweh Street, Near Waec Office, Yaba (08063450173, 08066723368)
6. Glendora Bookstores, Jazz Hole, Ikoyi (07060648580)
7. Glendora Bookstores, MM2, Ikeja (08033047091)
8. Roving Height (07032038633)
9. Sunshine booksellers (08028708577)

 

PORT HARCOURT

1. Chapters bookshop Ltd, 46, Ekenewon Street, (Whitneys) (08033097255)
2. Books Affairs Edu. Services (08184452488)

Other Locations

1. Ebitare Bookshop, BAYELSA (08037931949)
2. Mustapha Bookshop, KADUNA  (08036446655)
3. Lara Bookstores, University of Ilorin, KWARA STATE (08027812337)
4. Ajayi Crowther University, OYO (08141127107)
5. The Booksellers, 52, Magazine Road, Jericho, IBADAN, OYO (08033229113, 08078496332)
6. The Booksellers, City Plaza (Ground Floor), Area 11 Garki II, ABUJA FCT (08033110679,08136590888)
7. The Booksellers, 44, Quarry Road Opposite Anglican High School, Junction, Ibara Abeokuta 08143284461
8. Roving Heights (07032038633)
9. Sunshine booksellers  (08028708577)
10. @TheBookDealerNG (Twitter and Instagram)
11. Konga

 

For enquiries about distribution or placing large orders (500+ books) please send an email to info@kachifo.com or call 08077364217.

Selected Participants: 2015 Farafina Trust Creative Writing Workshop

The following applicants have been selected to participate in the 2015 Farafina Trust Creative Writing Workshop:

1. NERISSA ANIDI
2. ADAEZE EZENWA
3. SHIELA CHUKWULOZIE
4. EDWIN MADU
5. ELOGHOSA OSUNDE
6. TEMITOPE OWOLABI
7. EMILOMO NWAFOR-OHIWEREI
8. JOHN KARANJA  NZISA
9. AYODEJI ROTINWA
10. DORIS ANIUNOH
11. ENAJITE EFEMUAYE
12. NARO OMO-OSAGIE
13. PHIDELIA IMIEGHA
14. JILL MNENA  ACHINEKU
15. NIYI ADEMOROTI
16. AMARA NICOLE OKOLO
17. OLORUNFEMI OWOYEMI
18. ISAAC OTIDI AMUKE
19. MODE ADERINOKUN
20. OLUTIMEHIN ADEGBEYE
21. AKWAEKE EMEZI
22. FESTUS OKUBOR
23. BADE AYOADE
24. ABIODUN NKWOCHA
25. FAREEDA ABDULKARIM

The workshop will run from June 16 to June 26, at the end of which there will be a Literary Evening open to the public.

Congratulations to the selected participants!

Buy Americanah at these Stores

Pick up your paperback and hardback copies of Chimamanda Adichie’s Americanah at the following bookstores:

In Lagos:
Quintessence, Falomo Shopping Complex, Ikoyi.

The Hub Media Store, The Palms Shopping Mall, Lekki.

Patabah, Shop B18, Adeniran Ogunsanya Shopping Mall, Surulere.

The Booksellers Limited,  Pan African University, LBS, Km 49 Lekki Expressway, Ajah

Laterna Bookstores,  13 Oko-Awo Close, off Adetokunbo Ademola Street, Victoria Island

Glendora, Ikeja City mall, Shoprite, Lagos.

Okoziko World Books, Local Airport, Departure Lounge, Ikeja.

 

In Abuja:

The Booksellers Limited, Ground Floor, City Plaza, opposite Biobak Restaurant, Rubuka Close, off Ahmadu Bello Way, Garki II

L&C Place, C19, Winnies Plaza, Abacha road, Mararaba, Abuja.

Readers Are Leaders Bookshop, Ceddi Plaza, Abuja.

 

In Port Harcourt:
Rainbow Bookshop, 20 Igbodo Street, Old G.R.A.

Chapters Books Limited, Bovatti Building, 78 Woji Road, G.R.A. Phase II

 

In Ibadan:
The Booksellers Limited, 52 Magazine Road, Jericho

 

In Enugu
Hidden Treasure bookstores, Enugu 07065693233.

 

In Uyo:

Boldoz bookstores, 21,Afaha Uqua Road, Eket,Akwa-Ibom.

On Race, Hair, and Chimamanda Adichie’s ‘Americanah’

Book Review by Blessing Omakwu

When I heard Chimamanda Adichie was writing a new book that drew heavily from hair and race as themes, I was excited for two reasons: first, because the bibliophile in me lives for everything Adichie writes; and second, because race and hair are familiar territories as an ex-member of the African diaspora in America. Indeed, one of my first adult memories of America involves both hair and race. Although I was born in America, my family moved to Nigeria when I was child, and I spent all of my adolescent years there. When I returned to America for university, I found that adjusting to the culture change was not as easy as I had imagined it would be. I will never forget the puzzled look on one of my Caucasian-male friends’ face when I sat next to him in the cafeteria one day during those first few weeks. I had just gotten a weave put in my hair, and it turns out he was wondering how my hair had miraculously grown so long since the previous day. I laughed and began to mumble something about the versatility of black hair when an African American female who was sitting across from us fired, “Don’t come here with yo’ African self tryna think you black!” It was then that I first realized being American and being African, did not give me a membership card to the African-American club.

On the surface, Americanah is a riveting love story between high school sweethearts, Ifemelu and Obinze, that starts in Lagos during a time of military dictatorship. With Obinze, Ifemelu was “at ease; her skin felt as though it was her right size.” The two are separated when Ifemelu moves to America amidst ongoing university strikes in Nigeria. In America, Ifemelu becomes aware of race, falls in love with her natural hair, explores an interracial relationship and becomes a prominent blogger. Obinze, on the other hand, moves to England where he battles loneliness and struggles to make a living working under the table jobs after overstaying his visa: “[he] lived in London indeed but invisibly, his existence like an erased pencil sketch.” Eventually, the two reunite in Lagos, where Obinze has become a ‘big boy’ and Ifemelu is struggling to carve a new career after being away from home for 13 years. In the end, Ifemelu and Obinze must make a very difficult decision.  But Americanah is more than a love story: it is a social critique and a dissection of the politics of identity.

What is genius about Americanah is that almost anyone can find something to relate to in it: there is no doubt that this novel will appeal to an even broader audience than Adichie’s previous work.  However, the virtue of Americanah–its ability to cut across 3 continents and multiple subject matters–may also be its vice. The book attempts to do too much by cramming so many complex topics (race, politics, hair, class, interracial relationships, the immigrant experience, nouveau Lagos, etc) into one story line. Several of her full-length blog posts with titles like: ‘To my Fellow Non-American Blacks: In America, You Are Black, Baby’ and ‘A Michelle Obama Shout-Out Plus Hair as Race Metaphor’ are included in the book. After a while, reading the blog posts can become cumbersome (they reminded me of all the assigned reading I had to do in law school for a critical race theory class). Also, at some points in the novel, the hair angle seemed forced (for starters, why was Ifemelu getting braids to go to Nigeria aka the land of cheaper and better braids?) and proselytistic. Interestingly, religion is subtly critiqued and slightly caricatured where explored: characters are found fasting themselves to sickness and diagnosing evil spirits.

Yet, the literary quality of Americanah is preserved despite its overt political tone and near nihilism. The characters are so fully developed and believable that you might think Adichie has met your friend, relative, classmate, or hair dresser. Unlike Purple Hibiscus and some of the stories in The Thing Around Your Neck, there is no unfinished business in Americanah. One leaves the novel at least certain of its conclusion, and at best satisfied by it.

Perhaps the only questions I had after reading the novel were about Adichie herself. There are pieces of the places Adichie has been littered throughout the book, such as Nsukka, Connecticut, Maryland and Yale. In the 24 hours during which I devoured Americanah, I found myself wondering: did she draw some of the dinner table intellectual banter from conversations she and her Doctor husband have had with their friends? And most importantly: how much of Ifemelu is Chimamanda?

In 2009, I had the privilege to meet Adichie during a book signing for The Thing Around Your Neck.  Alas, I echo the gratitude I gave her then for Americanah: thank you for giving a voice to the experiences that I have always remembered but sometimes forgotten how to articulate.

Republished with the author’s permission, this review first appeared on NigeriansTalk

This independent review does not represent the opinion of FarafinaBooks

2013 Farafina Trust Creative Writing Workshop

Farafina Trust will be holding a creative writing workshop in Lagos, organized by award winning writer and creative director of Farafina Trust, Chimamanda Adichie, from August 6 to August 16 2013. The workshop is sponsored by Nigerian Breweries Plc.
The Caine Prize winning Kenyan writer, Binyavanga Wainaina, and others will co-teach the workshop alongside Adichie. The workshop will take the form of a class. Participants will be assigned a wide range of reading exercises, as well as daily writing exercises.

The aim of the workshop is to improve the craft of writers and to encourage published and unpublished writers by bringing different perspective to the art of storytelling. Participation is limited only to those who apply and are accepted.

All material must be pasted or written in the body of the e-mail. Please Do NOT include any attachments in your e-mail. Applications with attachments will be automatically disqualified.

Deadline for submission is JUNE 12, 2013. Only those accepted to the workshop will be notified by JULY 22, 2013.

Accommodation in Lagos will be provided for all accepted applicants who are able to attend for the ten-day duration of the workshop.

A literary evening of readings, open to the public, will be held at the end of the workshop on August 16, 2013.

To apply, send an e-mail to udonandu2013@gmail.com
Your e-mail subject should read ‘Workshop Application’

The body of the e-mail should contain the following:
1. Your Name
2. Your Address
3. A few sentences about yourself
4. A writing sample of between 200 and 800 words.

The sample must be either fiction or non-fiction

Photos: The Release of the Nigerian Edition of Americanah

Chimamanda reading from Americanah

The audience

Chimamanda in conversation with Tolu Ogunlesi

The audience

Chimamanda

In Conversation

Question from a member of the audience

Question from a member of the audience

Adebola Rayo, Chinaku Onyemelukwe, Okey Adichie

Question from a member of the audience

Chimamanda signing books

Chimamanda and her parents

Chimamanda with Kachifo Ltd. staff

Many thanks to @obidaraphx for the photos

AMERICANAH Lagos Book Tour

AMERICANAH by Chimamanda Adichie is now available in bookstores across Nigeria. The author will be embark on a Lagos Book Tour from the 27th of April.

Meet Chimamanda on these dates at the following locations:

April 27 at Terra Kulture by 6pm.

May 1 at Patabah Books, Shop B18 Adeniran Ogunsanya Mall, Surulere, by 1pm

May 4 at Glendora, Ikeja City Mall, by 1pm

Or catch her on the radio:

7pm, Friday 3rd May, 92.3 Inspiration FM with Wana Udobang.

9.30am, Saturday 4th May, 98.1 Smooth FM on the Breakfast show

Chimamanda Adichie: The Danger of a Single Story

“…But because of writers like Chinua Achebe and Camara Laye, I went through a mental shift in my perception of literature. I realized that people like me, girls with skin the color of chocolate, whose kinky hair could not form ponytails, could also exist in literature. I started to write about things I recognized.”

Nigerian edition of AMERICANAH

Farafina is proud to announce the Nigerian edition of AMERICANAH, the highly anticipated novel by award-winning author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Release date is April 21, 2013 in Lagos. In the months following the release, the author will go on a national book tour with stops in major cities across Nigeria.

ABOUT THE BOOK

AMERICANAH is a fearless novel set in Nigeria, England and America. It boldly takes on issues both big and small: love, race, home, hair, Obama, immigration, and self-invention. In the early 1990s, under Abacha’s government, Ifemelu and Obinze fall in love. People are leaving the country if they can and Ifemelu leaves for America, where alongside defeats and triumphs, she confronts the inevitable question of race. Obinze, unable to join her in America, goes on to live as an illegal immigrant in London. After several years they have both achieved success — Ifemelu as a popular blogger about race, and Obinze as a wealthy man in the now democratic Nigeria. When Ifemelu decides to return to Nigeria, she and Obinze must both make the biggest decision of their lives.

REVIEWS

From Binyavanga Wainaina, Caine Prize winner and author of ONE DAY I WILL WRITE ABOUT THIS PLACE:

“Fearless. A towering achievement…From the place of Africans in the race politics in America, to love across continents, AMERICANAH dares to bring us a world of a confident and self-made woman making her way in these complicated times. This is the Africa of our future. Sublime, powerful and the most political of Chimamanda’s novels. She continues to blaze the way forward.”

From Booklist, a publication of the American Library Association:

“Adichie is a word-by-word virtuoso with a sure grasp of social conundrums in Nigeria, East Coast America, and England; an omnivorous eye for resonant detail; a gift for authentic characters; pyrotechnic wit; and deep humanitarianism. AMERICANAH is a courageous, world-class novel about independence, integrity, community, and love—and what it takes to become a ‘full human being.’”

From Dave Eggers, Pulitzer prize finalist, and author of WHAT IS THE WHAT:

“As she did so masterfully with Half of a Yellow Sun, Adichie paints on a grand canvas, boldly and confidently…This is a very funny, very warm and moving intergenerational epic that confirms Adichie’s virtuosity, boundless empathy and searing social acuity.”

From Colum McCann, IMPAC award winner and author of LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN:

“Adichie’s great gift is that she has always brought us into the territory of the previously unexplored. She writes about that which others have kept silent. AMERICANAH is no exception. This is not just a story that unfolds across three different continents, it is also a keenly observed examination of race, identity and belonging in the global landscapes of Africans and Americans.”

AMERICANAH can be pre-ordered by emailing orders@kachifo.com, calling +2348077364217 or tweeting at us: @farafinabooks

Price: Hardback N4500, Paperback N2500.

Upon release, AMERICANAH will be available in all major bookstores across the country.

Details of national book tour will be announced later.

An Igbo Elegy on Hearing of the Passing Away of Professor Chinua Achebe By Chimamanda Adichie

Ife mee.
Nnukwu ife mee.
Chinua Achebe anabago.

Onye edemede nke di egwu,
onye nnukwu uche,
onye obi oma.

Keduzi onye anyi ga-eji eme onu?
Keduzi onye anyi ga-eji jee mba?
Keduzi onye ga-akwado anyi?

Ebenebe egbu o!
Anya mmili julu m anya.
Chinua Achebe, naba no ndokwa.
O ga-adili gi mma.
Naba na ndokwa.

-Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Translation

A tree has fallen.
A mighty tree has fallen!
Chinua Achebe is gone.

The inimitable wordsmith,
the sage,
the kind man.

Now who is there for us to boast about?
Who will be our rampart?
How are the mighty fallen!

My eyes are in flood with tears.
Chinua Achebe may your soul rest in peace.
It is well with you.
Rest in peace.

Translation by Mazi Nnamdi Nwigwe