Limitations of a Single Story…according to fab author, Chimamanda Adichie

One of Africa’s brightest young writers Chimamanda Adichie is definitely talented!

So…who determines what an ‘authentic’ African story is anyway?

“If somebody writes about middle-class Africans they say, ‘Oh no, write about the real Africa.  Write about Mugabe being terrible in Zimbabwe.’  You don’t write about people who fall in love on the street.  You don’t write about Africans who have money and go on vacation because that’s not ‘real’.  The real Africa is starving, or being bullied by Mugabe, or dying of Aids.”

Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells a story that’s different from what most hear and see about Africa.  She warns that “if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.”

Check out the clip!

Chimamanda has won many awards for her creative novels including the Best First Book award in the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, The Orange Prize and is a 2008 MacArthur Fellow.  Her books are set across the world.

Kudos to you Chimamanda!

Source: TED