Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Black Stars Books

Publication Order of Children's Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a noteworthy Nigerian novelist, who is well known for writing some very popular contemporary, feminism, literary fiction, and nonfiction novels. Her popular works include Purple Hibiscus, Americannah, We Should All Be Feminists, etc. Adichie has won the prestigious MacArthur Genius Grant and has been described the most prominent among several critically acclaimed anglophone authors. She is said to have succeeded in attracting new readers to the African literature. Author Adichie was born on September 15, 1977 in Enugu, Enugu State, Nigeria. She is the 5th of the six children born to James Nwoye Adichie and Grace Ifoema. While Adichie was growing up, her father was employed at the Nigeria University as a statistics professor. Her family has their ancestral village in the Anambra State. Adichie has studied pharmacy and medicine at the Nigeria University for a period of less than 2 years. During that period, she got the chance to edit The Compass, the university’s magazine run by medical students.

When she was 19 years old, she left her country and moved to the United States for studying political science and communications at Philadelphia’s Drexel University. After a little while in her studies, Adichie took transfer to the University of Eastern Connecticut State in order to be close to her sister named Unche, who was undergoing medical practice in a college in Coventry. During her stay in Nigeria, Adichie had never experienced discrimination due to her color. But, as a black African living in the US, she was confronted with the nightmare of being a colored person. The experience made Adichie navigate & learn the concept of race from very close. She went on to explore this topic on a wide scale in her books. In 2001, Adichie her bachelor’s degree and then joined the Univeristy of John Hopkins for a creative writing master’s degree. In 2008, Adichie obtained an M.A. degree from the Yale University in African Studies. She has a Hodder fellowship at the Princeton University in 2005-06 and was also awarded with a MacArthur Fellowship later. Adichie was also felicitated with a fellowship from Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute.

Nowadays, Adichie manages her time between the United States and Nigeria, where she organizes writing workshops. In 2016 and 2017, Adichie was conferred honorary degrees by John Hopkins and Edinburgh universities respectively. It was followed by another honorary degree in 2018 by the Amherst College. Adichie began her writing by publishing a poem collection in 1997. She published a play a year later. In 2002, she was shortlisted for Caine Prize for writing the short story called You In America. Over the course of the next couple of years, Adichie penned several other short stories and subsequently won awards for them. She wrote her first novel called Purple Hibiscus in 2003 and received a wide acclaim for it. Adichie received a nomination for Orange Prize and won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for this book. The success of her first book was followed by another mind blowing novel in 2006 called Half of a Yellow Sun. This book was adapted into a movie with the same name and featured Chiwetel Ejofor and Thandie Newton in the lead roles. In her subsequent books, Adichie spoke extensively on various social topics and explored the relationships between parents & children, men & women, the US and Africa, etc. Today, she is included among the top-rated authors and is widely respected for her work in her novels. Adichie likes to give the credit of her success to her fans in Nigeria and the rest of the world for supporting in think and thin of times.

The debut book written by author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is entitled ‘Purple Hibiscus’. It was published in 2003 by the Algonquin Books. Author Adichie has described the primary characters in this book as Kambili, Jaja, and several other people in their lives. The plot’s setting is done in Enugu, Nigeria. At the book’s beginning, Kambili is introduced as a 15 year old girl living in Enugu. She lives a privileged life along with her elder brother named Jaja. Their house is a big and beautiful one and has a caring and loving family. The siblings attend a missionary school. Due to their privileged life, they live remain shielded from the world’s troubles. However, Kambili claims that things are not as they appear. She reveals that even though her father is well respected and generous, he is tyrannical and religious fanatic at home. And because of this, the people in their family are suffering at home. When the country starts falling under the military coup, Jaja and Kambili are sent to live with their aunt, who works as a university professor far from the city. While living with their loving aunt, Kambili and Jaja discover life beyond the confinement of their father’s orders. They get involved in many joyful activities with their cousins. But, as they come back to their home, they see the tensions escalating. Kambili realizes that she must find the courage and strength to keep the loved ones in her family together.

Another exciting book penned by author Adichie is called ‘Americannah’. It was released in 2013 by Alfred Knoph publication. This book describes the story of a young Nigerian female named Ifemelu. She is shown as migrating to the US for attending university. She explores different layers of her life in both the countries and one particular element is her relationship with her high school lover named Obinze. This book is being developed into a TV miniseries that stars Lupita Nyong’o in the main role. In addition to Ifemelu, the other central characters depicted by Adichie include Aunty Uju, Dike, Curt, The General, Blaine, Shan, Kosi, Buchi, and the parents of Obinze and Ifemelu. As teenagers, Ifemelu & Obinze develop feelings for one another while studying in a secondary school in Lagos. And as there is military dictatorship in Nigeria, people are trying to move out of the country for a better life.

Ifemelu goes to America for further studies. As she tries to blend in the American culture, she struggles with racism and different types of racial discriminations. Obinze tries to join Ifemelu in the United States, but is not given visa because of post 9/11 situation in America. So, he moves to London and pursues his higher studies there. After some years, he comes back to Nigeria, sets up his real estate business and becomes rich. Ifemelu too becomes a popular blog writer in the US, writing on the topics of color discrimination in America. Upon her return to Nigeria, she comes across Obinze. They decide to give another chance to their relationship.