Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Shares Her Advice to Young Writers | Louisiana Channel

“I often talk about how it’s so important to read widely.” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie shares her advice with aspiring writers looking for guidance.
“I think that there are a lot of young people who want to write, love to write, are interested in writing, talk about writing but don’t actually write,” Adichie continues: “When I teach writing, I assign a lot of reading.” She also stresses the importance of focusing on your practice: “Try to keep in touch with your writing every day.”
“Young people think they need to have it all figured out when they’re 19.” According to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, this is not the case at all. “This idea that you have to know you’re on the right path… I don’t think so. I think it’s about trying.”
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (b. 1977) grew up in the southeastern part of Nigeria. After school, she studied medicine and pharmacy at the University of Nigeria. At the age of 19, Adichie left Nigeria and moved to the United States for college, where she studied communications and political science in Philadelphia. Adichie has received numerous prizes for her literary work, including the novels ‘Purple Hibiscus’ (2003) and ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ (2006). Her novel ‘Americanah’ (2013 won the US National Book Critics Circle Award and was named one of The New York Times' Top Ten Best Books of 2013. She has delivered two landmark TED talks: her 2009 TED Talk The Danger of A Single Story and her 2012 TEDx Euston talk We Should All Be Feminists, which started a worldwide conversation about feminism and was published as a book in 2014. Adichie was named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2015. In 2017, Fortune Magazine named her one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was interviewed by the journalist Synne Rifbjerg in Copenhagen in June 2022.
Camera: Rasmus Quistgaard
Edit: Signe Boe Pedersen
Produced by Christian Lund
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2022
Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond, Ny Carlsbergfondet, C.L. Davids Fond og Samling, and Fritz Hansen.
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[@ImnotassweetasIusedtobe]

She has a great point. Fear has stopped me from even trying to write and then I stopped reading during the pandemic too from being depressed. When I got back to both, it was hard at first, but now I feel like that puzzle piece in me that was missing is back in its rightful place.

[@ramdularsingh1435]

Adichie is a creative genius of our beloved world and time! She is so brilliant you cannot ignore her.....

[@arne.munther]

Reading is the key to learn to do anything. Writing, living, writing..... anything

[@yonathanasefaw9001]

That's why I read everyday.

[@priscillayg]

I'm completely agree. Whenever I've been consistent about reading, my writing and vocabulary always improved.

[@yonathanasefaw9001]

I'm still reading 'Half of a Yellow Sun' but yes I do agree about reading every day. It needs to be done.

[@amaraokoli2799]

It's very funny how true this is

[@activeone]

the way she paused after she said "write" like she dropped some sacred knowledge lol

[@chisomo8088]

But she did though, and if you listened to her following words you'll know that. Take your hating self elsewhere.