Presenting the Inaugural Africa World Lectures, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born in Enugu, Nigeria in 1977. She grew up on the campus of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where her father was a professor, and her mother was the first female registrar. She graduated summa cum laude from Eastern Connecticut State University with a degree in Communication and Political Science.

She has a master’s degree in African studies from Yale University and a master’s degree in creative writing from Johns Hopkins University. She was awarded a Hodder fellowship at Princeton University for the 2005-2006 academic year, and a fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute of Harvard University for the 2011-2012 academic year. In 2008, she received a MacArthur Fellowship, popularly known as the “genius grant.”

She has received honorary doctorate degrees from Eastern Connecticut State University, Johns Hopkins University, Haverford College, Williams College, the University of Edinburgh, Duke University, Amherst College, Bowdoin College, SOAS University of London, American University, Georgetown University, Yale University, Rhode Island School of Design, Northwestern University, and University of Pennsylvania.              READ FULL BIO                                FULL VIDEO EVENT                        EVENT PICTURES                              HER THOUGHTS ABOUT HER FICTION WRITING