Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Writing Career

Writing Career

Adichie published a collection of poems in 1997 (Decisions) and a play (For Love of Biafra) in 1998. She was shortlisted in 2002 for the Caine Prize for her short story "You in America". In 2003, her story "That Harmattan Morning" was selected as joint winner of the BBC Short Story Awards, and she won the O. Henry prize for "The American Embassy". She also won the David T. Wong International Short Story Prize 2002/2003 (PEN Center Award), for "Half of a Yellow Sun".

Her first novel, Purple Hibiscus, was released in 2003. The book received wide critical acclaim; it was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction (2004) and was awarded the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book (2005). Her second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun, named after the flag of the short-lived nation of Biafra, is set before and during the Biafran War. It was awarded the 2007 Orange Prize for Fiction.

Her third book, The Thing Around Your Neck, is a collection of short stories published in 2009.

In 2010 she was listed among The New Yorker′s "20 Under 40" Fiction Issue.

Adichie's story, "Ceiling", was included in the 2011 edition of The Best American Short Stories.

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