10 Things You Need To Hear From Feminist Novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Feminist Novelist Zadie Smith interviewed Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on March 19th at The Schomburg Center in Harlem, NY, and the stars aligned, as they dropped knowledge about contemporary fiction, double consciousness, and immigrant identity.

1. On Style:

Via chimamanda.com

"When I’m sitting down writing, I’m not thinking about style. . . there’s that moment when something magic happens . . . You become transported and you really forget how much time has passed and that’s what I’m really hoping will happen."

2. On Class:

youtube.com / Via YouTube

"Class makes such a difference. I'm interested in how class affects not just the way we deal with the world, but the way the world deals with us."

3. On African-American History:

Via beybad.tumblr.com

4. On America:

weheartit.com / Via speroinqualcosadimigliore.tumblr.com

"America fascinates me because there’s a willful denial of history. How can white people not get it, if you know the history of America?"

5. On Creating Strong Women Characters:

Chelsea Valentin Brown / Via soirart.tumblr.com

"I’m writing about women who are familiar. Not to say that all the women I know are strong and have their shit together; they’re not, but to say that the idea of a woman being strong, not just to prove a point, is normal to me."

6. On Sincerity in Contemporary Fiction:

Via greyclass.tumblr.com

"It seems to me now that fiction is not supposed to have a position, or is supposed to pretend it doesn’t have a position, that everything is supposed to be ambiguous and ironic; I don’t know, it just doesn’t appeal to me."

7. On "Following the Rules":

Via npr.org

"I like to say this is my “fuck you” book to another version of myself. For so long I’ve been a dutiful daughter of literature. I’ve followed the rules: you show, don’t tell. With Americanah, I thought, I’m going to write the book I want to write."

8. On Clarity:

Via gifrific.com

"Clarity is important to me. The kind of writing that I like to read is writing that is clear . . . It’s very easy to confuse something that’s badly written as somehow 'deep.'”

9. On Giving Her Characters the Ability to Make Difficult Decisions:

Via skinthiscat.tumblr.com

"It was very difficult to write, but I knew that I had to, because it would be false to pretend that somehow we go into war and emerge as pristine beings."

10. On Race as an Identity:

Via hilarioushumorfromouterspace.tumblr.com

"It’s very different to come to the U.S. and to realize you are something else, called ‘black,’ and that there’s so many assumptions made because of this."