Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

In a special programme, Mary Beard is in conversation with critically acclaimed and internationally best-selling Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Her latest book, Notes on Grief, conveys her startlingly powerful reaction to losing her father last year, the man this self-confessed daddy’s girl credits with instilling in her a strong feminist instinct. Her writing is both tender and fierce, whether it’s her Women’s Prize-winning novel Half of a Yellow Sun, or her influential essay We Should All Be Feminists; and she’s often named as one of Africa’s best writers. In her first public appearance since the devastating news of her mother’s death earlier this year, she talks to Mary about the power of literature to heal, how it feels to have Beyonce using her words in her songs, and why Enid Blyton was her inspiration to write as she was growing up in Nigeria.