{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-c03aa079.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-517835be.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='After focus on past, Chimamanda Adichie mines Nigeria\u0026#39;s present-day chaotic life for new novel' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54c549d8eafeecae16f157' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54c549d8eafeecae16f157' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nAfter focus on past, Chimamanda Adichie mines Nigeria\u0026#39;s present-day chaotic life for new novel\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003eAP EntertainmentLagos, Nigeria, 27 April 20131. Handheld, Chimamanda Adichie smiles during a chart with Tolu Ogunlesi in Lagos2. Mid, A lady handing a copy of book \"Americanah\" by Chimamanda Adichie to a sales attendant.3. Mid, Lady...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003eAP Entertainment\u003cbr/\u003eLagos, Nigeria, 27 April 2013\u003cbr/\u003e1. Handheld, Chimamanda Adichie smiles during a chart with Tolu Ogunlesi in Lagos\u003cbr/\u003e2. Mid, A lady handing a copy of book \"Americanah\" by Chimamanda Adichie to a sales attendant.\u003cbr/\u003e3. Mid, Lady glossing over page of new book \"Americanah\"\u003cbr/\u003e4. Various, Chimamanda Adichie reading from her new book.\u003cbr/\u003e5. Set Up shot, Chimamanda Adichie \u003cbr/\u003e6. SOUNDBITE (English) Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Novelist \"Americanah\"\u003cbr/\u003e\"Like I say Nigeria is the country that most infuriates me and is the country I love the most and I think when you are emotionally invested in a place, as a story teller its really not. It becomes organic, bringing it to life becomes organic because it comes from a place of this deep interest and you know frustration plus also love.\"\u003cbr/\u003e7. Closeup, Chimamanda Adichie's face\u003cbr/\u003e8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Chimamanda Adichie, Novelist \"Americanah\"\u003cbr/\u003e\"America still has an element of the interesting exotic for me in a way that Nigeria doesn't. So I don't really think of myself as being in between, I think of myself as a Nigerian who is comfortable in America.\"\u003cbr/\u003e9. Handheld, Chimamanda Adichie with her father pose for photographs during her book tour \"Americanah\" in Lagos.\u003cbr/\u003e10.Various, Chimamanda Adichie autograph book.\u003cbr/\u003e11.SOUNDBITE: (English) Chimamanda Adichie, Novelist \"Americanah\"\u003cbr/\u003e\"I think there's a lot happening and I think that we are going to have really, we are going to have sort of another, so that sort of the 1960's wave of grate writing I think we are in the middle of it now and I think it can only go up because what happened with the military dictatorship was sort of, the way that cultural production was squashed its almost as though em, Abacha (Former Military dictator) dies and just suddenly people start writing.\"    \u003cbr/\u003e12. Various, people buying books.\u003cbr/\u003e13. Mid, Chimamanda Adichie's  book \"Americanah\" displayed alongside book on Late President of Nigeria, Musa Yarduwa\u003cbr/\u003e14. VOXPOP: (English)  Tolu Ogunlesi, Writer\u003cbr/\u003e\"She's a hugely inspirational figure to a lot of people, and she's part of a pack of novelists who have after what you might call two decades of silence, who have helped to tell Nigerian stories to the whole world again.\"\u003cbr/\u003e15. Various, Chimamanda Adichie reading from her new book \"Americanah\" during the book tour in Lagos.\u003cbr/\u003e16. VOXPOP: (English) Julie Oyegun, Book enthusiast\u003cbr/\u003e\"For where Achebe explained colonialism and post-colonialism and where Shoyinka has described our post-independence travails, I think this is a generation that's helping us to describe and if you like, tell the stories of living in these different worlds.\"\u003cbr/\u003e17. Various, people pay attention as Chimamanda Adichie reads from her new book \"Americanah\"\u003cbr/\u003e18.  Closeup, Chimamanda Adichie's face.\u003cbr/\u003e19. SOUNDBITE: (English) Chimamanda Adichie, Novelist \"Americanah\"\u003cbr/\u003e\"It's only black women for whom an entire industry exists which is geared towards specifically making sure that the hair that grows on their head looks different, so there's relaxer, there's weaves and really it's black women.\"\u003cbr/\u003e20. Mid, ladies pose for picture with Chimamanda Adichie\u003cbr/\u003e21. Mid, Chimamanda Adichie and Tolu Ogunlesi having a chat\u003cbr/\u003e22. VOXPOP: (English) Julie Oyegun, Book enthusiast \u003cbr/\u003e\"I hope sincerely that there's a generation of Nigerians who will be able to tell stories, that are authentic, that are identifiable with our reality because we are a diasporic people.\"\u003cbr/\u003e23. Various, Chimamanda Adichie autographing books\u003cbr/\u003eThe traffic is there, grinding life to a halt as the middle class pound out messages on Blackberry mobile phones and worry about Facebook. \u003cbr/\u003eThe heat, the sweat and the daily tragedy of unclaimed bodies lying alongside roadways, passers-by hurrying past for fear of someone else's misfortune becoming entangled in their own.\u003cbr/\u003eThis is modern life in Nigeria's largest city, Lagos, which becomes almost a character of its own in novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's new book, \"Americanah.\" And within its pages, one catches self-acknowledged glimpses of the writer herself, who shot to fame with her previous love story set during Nigeria's civil war called \"Half of A Yellow Sun.\"\u003cbr/\u003eAs that book becomes a movie, more international attention will focus on Adichie, part of a raft of new Nigerian writers finding acclaim after years of military-induced slumber from a nation with rich literary history. \u003cbr/\u003eYet Adichie, like her new book's heroine, finds herself straddled between a life in the United States and one in Nigeria, where even seemingly innocuous comments on hair care and wigs can stir resentment.\u003cbr/\u003e\"I'm writing about where I care about and I deeply, deeply care about Nigeria,\" Adichie told The Associated Press. \"Nigeria is the country that most infuriates me and it is the country I love the most. I think when you're emotionally invested in a place as a storyteller, it becomes organic.\"\u003cbr/\u003eThat sense of place runs throughout \"Americanah,\"  make sure to stress the fourth syllable, the daughter of a university professor and a university registrar says. It's a term people use to describe the accents carried by some of the Nigerians now returning in droves to the country after it embraced an uneasy democracy after years of military rulers. \u003cbr/\u003eWhile oil and gas money continues to flow and other business opportunities abound, the nation's universities now sit in shambles, graduating more unqualified students than can be offered jobs.\u003cbr/\u003eThat intellectual dulling has been challenged by a host of new writers, many of whom like Adichie still live almost double lives abroad.\u003cbr/\u003e\"She is part of the pack of novelists who have, after what you might call the two decades of silence, who have helped to tell Nigerian stories to the whole world again,\" writer Tolu Ogunlesi said. \u003cbr/\u003eThough dismissing the idea of being a \"dutiful daughter of literary conventions,\" Adichie's new novel takes root in the vagaries and murmured promises of a love story like much of her other work. It also focuses largely on the slim percentage of Nigerians able to afford diesel generators in a country largely without electricity and look at the poor through the chilled air and tinted-glass windows of luxury SUVs.\u003cbr/\u003eDespite that, her writing hits a nerve with Nigerian readers to identify with the mentions of church worship services focused on getting foreign visas and the nervous wives of rich men in a nation notorious for philandering. \u003cbr/\u003eAdichie describes herself as looking \"at the world through Nigerian eyes,\" but she doesn't hold back on criticizing its culture that fosters widespread government corruption. Or what she perceives as the excessive, neutered politeness of \"political-correct language\" in the U.S.\u003cbr/\u003eSpeaking Saturday night at a book signing, Adichie drew laughter and a few nervous looks from organizers by describing President Goodluck Jonathan as \"not a bad guy, he just seems like he's floundering and has no clue.\"\u003cbr/\u003eIt also leads to comparisons some make between Adichie and late author Chinua Achebe, who died in March at age 82. Both come from the Igbo people of Nigeria's southeast and Achebe's own praise of Adichie graces the cover of her new novel in Nigeria. Adichie said the rise of new writers served as a testament to the power of Achebe's writings and the works of others.\u003cbr/\u003e\"I think there's just this wonderful flowering that's happening,\" she said.\u003cbr/\u003eEven more controversial, it seems, have been Adichie's comments on natural hair in Nigeria, where many spend huge sums of money on straight-banged wigs and weaves known as India hair. An online commenter on Twitter attempted to say Adichie, whose natural hair sits in buns atop of her head, tried to say those wearing weaves were insecure, sparking controversy. Adichie herself ended up responding to the criticism and gave a recent audience advice on finding hair conditioners with no sulfates.\u003cbr/\u003e\"It's only black women for whom an entire industry exists which is geared toward specifically making sure that the hair that grows on their head looks different,\" she said. \"I want natural black hair to be an equally valid option, not something interesting, not something you do when you're a jazz musician, but something you can do when you're a lawyer in a fancy firm in New York City or if you're a politician in Abuja,\" Nigeria's capital.\u003cbr/\u003eThat, however, still remains a challenge. Adichie acknowledged it herself by pausing, and then adding: \"My mother doesn't like my hair like that. She is still praying.\"\u003cbr/\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='action-container flex justify-between'\u003e\n\u003cbutton aria-expanded='false' aria-label='Read more description' class='rp-full-description' type='button'\u003e\n\u003ci class='fai fa-solid fa-align-left'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cspan id='read_more'\u003eRead More\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/button\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-report'\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-labelledby='resource-details-heading' class='rp-info-section'\u003e\n\u003ch2 class='title' id='resource-details-heading'\u003eResource Details\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-resource-details clearfix'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='detail'\u003e\n\u003cdl\u003e\n\u003cdt\u003eCurator Rating\u003c/dt\u003e\n\u003cdd\u003e\u003cspan class=\"star-rating\" aria-label=\"3.5 out of 5 stars\" role=\"img\"\u003e\u003ci class=\"fa-solid fa-star text-action\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\u003ci 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