Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction with her most recent novel Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie will speak on Monday, Oct. 27 at 5 p.m. in the Davis Center's Grand Maple Ballroom. The talk is free and open to the public.

Adichie, who is Nigerian-born, is the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “genius” fellowship and was named one of the 20 most important fiction writers under the age of 40 by The New Yorker magazine. Americanah was selected as one of the ten best books of the year by the New York Times. Adichie, according to the Times review, is  “an extraordinarily self-aware thinker and writer” who can “balance high-literary intentions with broad social critique.”

Her novel Half of a Yellow Sun won the Orange Prize, her novel Purple Hibiscus won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. The Thing Around Your Neck, Adichie’s collection of stories, was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ prize for Best Book in Africa. 

“Adichie is one of the most exciting, preeminent contemporary authors,” says Helen Scott, associate professor of English, “and UVM is fortunate to be hosting her.” The opportunity is made possible by the English Department and the James and Mary Brigham Buckham Scholarship Fund.