Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie grew up in Nigeria. Her work has been translated into thirty languages and has appeared in various publications, including The New Yorker, The New York Times, Granta, The O. Henry Prize Stories, Financial Times, and Zoetrope: All-Story. She is the author of the novels Purple Hibiscus, which won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award; Half of a Yellow Sun, which was the recipient of the Women’s Prize for Fiction “Winner of Winners” award; Americanah, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award; the story collection The Thing Around Your Neck; and the essays We Should All Be Feminists and Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions, both national bestsellers. A recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, she divides her time between the United States and Nigeria.
“When historians write about feminism in the early 21st century,
they may well begin with We Should All Be Feminists, a TED talk
Adichie gave in 2012; by the time she published a version as a
short book, countless listeners knew her words by heart. This new
book is another brief manifesto, and it is easy to imagine her
speaking it in the same contralto. Each suggestion starts with an
imperative. Some are concrete: ‘Teach Chizalum to read.’ Others are
more abstract: ‘Teach her that the idea of “gender roles” is
absolute nonsense.’ Embedding us in the intimacy of a friendship,
the prose makes reflections that might seem common sense in the
abstract feel like discoveries. The form of the letter also enacts
what Adichie says is her one fixed beliefs: ‘Feminism is always
contextual.’”—Moira Weigel, The New York Times Book
Review
“Wise and inspiring. Adichie, who has a daughter of her own, writes
from experience in a voice that’s companionable and open. She
addresses critical mother-daughter issues such as sex, clothes and
makeup, and she espouses an attitude of self-determination when it
comes to marriage and career. Her parental advice will stand
the test of time.” —Julie Hale, Book Page
*“Excellent. Adichie shines light on gender issues in modern
society through wise advice dispensed with droll wit and deep
earnestness. Writing with tender conviction, she explains that to
be a feminist, women do not have to give up their femininity. We
may choose to be brides, but we should also be taught to be
independent; a mother should remain her own person, [not] give up
her identity. But it’s not just women learning to navigate the
confusing waters of gender identity: Adichie also offers guidance
for teaching men how to embrace feminism and reject rigid gender
roles, too. VERDICT: A fast read and vital addition to all
collections. Anyone interested in social change will enjoy.”
—Vanessa Hughes, Library Journal (starred review)
“Raising a next-generation feminist is no small job, but Adichie
approaches the task with tenderness in her forthright advice to a
friend, Dear Ijeawele. Adichie envisions ways mothers can nurture
strong girls, from rejecting traditional gender roles to leading by
example (by simply being ‘a full person’). Dear
Ijeawele is a volume as fierce and illuminating as bringing up
a confident daughter, both with love at their core.” — Jordan
Sebastian Bonner, Oprah.com, “2 Books About Being a Woman Everyone
Needs to Read”
“Tips on how to raise the next gen to be gender equal. Read it, and
then lend it to your friend who just had a kid. It'll take you an
hour. And you'll be glad you did.” —Skimm Reads
“Adichie epitomizes and epistolizes our potential in Dear
Ijeawele.” —Sloane Crosely, Vanity Fair
“Adichie’s suggestions are logical and stated clearly, full of her
dry wit, and range from the obvious (‘Do it together’) to the bold
(‘Reject likeability’). The more radical suggestions are the ones
that encourage mothers to be complete human beings, not merely
‘hosts.’ And as much as this is a book written to mothers of
daughters, fathers of daughters would benefit from reading it, too;
parents in general would do well to try to raise children who won't
have to grow up and read it at all . . . Powerful and
life-affirming, offering wisdom for everyone.” —Nia Hampton, The
Village Voice
“Personal and urgent . . . Adichie is passionate about equality.
Her new book offers 15 ways that we can encourage girls to be
strong, to plant seeds of feminism. But more than that, Adichie
hopes the book will help ‘move us toward a world that is more
gender equal.’ Doing so means knocking down ingrained assumptions
about how men and women think and behave.” —Nora Krug, The
Washington Post
“In We Should All Be Feminists, Adichie distilled the essence of
feminism into a powerful treatise. Now, in Dear Ijeawele, she goes
a step further and covers every feminist topic you can
imagine–domestic chores, gendered language, female sexuality,
objectification, race, and much more. I am amazed at Adichie’s
ability to communicate so effectively and efficiently. If you liked
We Should All Be Feminists, you will LOVE Dear Ijeawele.” —Kate
Scott, Book Riot, “The Best Books We Read in February”
“Wise but funny and thought-provoking.” —Stephanie Topacio Long,
Bustle, “The 20 Best Nonfiction Books Coming in March 2017”
“Adichie has partly written Dear Ijeawele to reclaim the word
feminism from its abusers and misusers. Her advice is not only to
provide children with alternatives—to empower boys and girls to
understand there is no single way to be—but also to understand that
the only universal in this world is difference. Adichie is a
brilliant novelist and a serious thinker, and she is also someone
who makes no apology for her own trivial interests. Her
understanding of feminism is intertwined with her understanding
that we all want to be more than one thing.” —Emma Brockes, The
Guardian (UK)
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