Commendations as Chimamanda’s Half of a Yellow Sun wins “Best of the Best” prize

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By AZUH AMATUS
 Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has been named ‘Best of the Best’ of the winners of the second decade of the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction.

A statement sent to DAYLIGHT.NG by James Eze, stated that the announcement was made on Monday, November 2, at the Piccadilly Theatre in London.

The ‘Best of the Best’ was chosen from the ten novels that have won the prize in the past decade.

The chairs of the judging panels read from each of the ten prize-winning novels before the ‘Best of the Best’ announcement.

Adichie commented; “I have a lot of respect for the books that have won in the past ten years and also for the books that have been shortlisted – I feel I am in very good company.  To be selected as ‘Best of the Best’ of the past decade is such an honour.  I’m very grateful and very happy.”

Half of a Yellow Sun won the Bailey’s Women’s Prize in 2007 (when it was still known as the Orange Prize).

Muriel Gray, Chair of Judges, said: “While it’s sometimes pompous to call a book ‘important’, it’s appropriate to say it of Half of a Yellow Sun. Chimamanda’s achievement makes Half of a Yellow Sun not just a worthy winner of this most special of prizes, but a benchmark for excellence in fiction writing.”

Syl Saller, Chief Marketing Officer of Diageo, the Prize sponsors, added, “It is a delight to shine a light on the women who have shaped the literary landscape for the past decade. Chimamanda is an exceptional talent and a truly worthy winner of the Best of the Best accolade.”

The announcement marks the climax of celebrations to mark twenty years of the prize.

In a double win for Adichie, HALF OF A YELLOW SUN was also the public’s choice for the “Best of the Best” award in a vote hosted on the BBC website.

The Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction is the world’s most prestigious annual book award for fiction written by a woman. Established in 1996, it celebrates and promotes fiction by women throughout the world to the widest range of readers possible.


Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Biography
Chimamanda Adichie is from Abba, in Njikoka L.G.A. of Anambra State. She grew up in the university town of Nsukka, where her father was the first Professor of Statistics in Nigeria, and subsequently Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Her mother -in another first- was the first female Registrar of the University.

She excelled academically, getting the best JSS and SSS results in the history of the University of Nigeria Secondary School, and then going on to study Medicine and Pharmacy at the University. Adichie had been writing since the age of four, however, and writing is what she always felt was her calling. Fortunately, her parents were understanding of her goals, and she left for the US at the age of 19 for further studies, although this time in a different direction: enrolling in communications and political science at Drexel University, before transferring to Eastern Connecticut State University.

She graduated summa cum laude (the equivalent of a First Class degree). She subsequently took a Masters degree in creative writing from Johns Hopkins University. After publishing her first two books, she followed up with another Masters degree in African studies from Yale University. She also subsequently was awarded fellowships at Princeton University, where she taught Creative Writing, and Harvard University. Adichie was also awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship – popularly known as the MacArthur “Genius” award.

Adichie’s work has been translated into over thirty languages. She is the author of the novels Purple Hibiscus, which won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction (now the Bailey’s Prize), and Half of a Yellow Sun, which won the Orange Prize for Fiction and was a National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist and a New York Times Notable Book; and the story collection The Thing Around Your Neck.

Her latest novel Americanah, was published around the world in 2013, and has received numerous accolades, including winning the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction; and being named one of The New York Times Ten Best Books of the Year. A feature film based on Americanah is being co-produced by Lupita Nyong’o and Brad Pitt and will star Lupita and David Oyelowo.

In addition to her writing, Chimamanda has been invited to speak at many occasions around the world, with two of the most notable being TED Talks. The first, delivered in 2009, titled: “The Danger of A Single Story”- is now one of the Top Ten most-viewed TED Talks of all time, with over five million views. The second, titled “We Should All Be Feminists” has started a worldwide conversation about feminism, especially after it inspired a song by singer Beyonce.

Chimamanda is committed to assisting aspiring young writers, and as one of her commitments, she started an annual Writers Workshop in Nigeria. In 2011, the Nigerian Government, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, awarded her the Global Ambassador Award.