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Meet 'Chimamanda' the Nigerian Writer Beyoncé Features on Her New Album

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a celebrated Nigerian author who examines race and class.

Beyonce | Chimamanda
The surprise release of Beyonce's latest album, "Beyoncé," includes a number of songs and accompanying videos like "Pretty Hurts" and "Flawless" that contain explicit feminist messaging and political subtext.

While the album, Beyoncé's fifth, hasn't settled the debate over whether Beyoncé practices what she preaches, at the very least it has introduced the singer's fans to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, an award-winning Nigerian author who has been making headlines in the literary community for years.


Beyoncé sampled a TEDxTalk Adichie gave titled "We should all be feminists" for the bridge of her song "Flawless." From the talk which mostly focused on the status of women in Nigeria:
"We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls: "You can have ambition, but not too much You should aim to be successful, but not too successful Otherwise, you will threaten the man" 
Because I am female, I am expected to aspire to marriage I am expected to make my life choices always keeping in mind that marriage is most important.  
Now, marriage can be a source of joy and love and mutual support But why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage and we don't teach boys the same? 
We raise girls to see each other as competitors Not for jobs or for accomplishments, which I think can be a good thing But for the attention of men We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings in the way that boys are 
Feminist: a person who believes in the social Political, and economic equality of the sexes," Adichie explains
Being sampled for a Beyoncé jam isn't Adichie's greatest achievement  not by a long shot.

Born in Enugu, Nigeria, as the fifth of six children to parents who both worked at the University of Nigeria, Adichie was a successful student and at 19 moved to America to study at Drexel University and then Eastern Connecticut State University. She eventually got her masters at Johns Hopkins University, during which she wrote "Purple Hibiscus."

Since the release of "Purple Hibiscus," in 2003, Adichie has been well-regarded in the literary community. It won a Commonwealth Writers' Prize for best first book and was short-listed for the Orange Prize, a prestigious U.K. award for woman-authored fiction. Her second novel, "Half of a Yellow Sun," ultimately won the Orange Prize and many others. Her third and latest novel, "Americanah," hit book shelves to strong reviews this summer.

Adichie also has published a book of short stories, a play and poetry, and has been featured in The New Yorker, The Guardian and other publications. She was listed among The New Yorker's "20 Under 40" in 2010 and was named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2012.

Her works also have explored the Nigerian-Biafran war, American conceptions of Africa and the Nigerian education system, among other topics.

According to USNews, Adichie's agency is declining interviews about the Beyoncé song. (If she is not happy with the way her words were used by a high-profile artist, she wouldn't be the first.) Nevertheless, the 828,773 iTunes users who have purchased the album in its first three days (an iTunes record) are now at least familiar with her voice.

Meet 'Chimamanda' the Nigerian Writer Beyoncé Features on Her New Album Reviewed by Msl on 6:22 am Rating: 5

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