Chimamanda Adichie, the award-winning Nigerian author, has revealed she remains astonished by the overwhelming support from her readers worldwide.
Adichie said in a recent interview that she still finds it remarkable that her book events sell out within 24 hours, with thousands paying to hear her speak.
Chimamanda said she often questions the phenomenon but remains deeply moved by the profound connection readers have with her work.
“I have never lost my sense of wonder. It is not false modesty, it is, in fact, true that I go through these things, I am just shocked that it is (book events) sold out in 24 hours, that there are 1,000 people there to see me, they bloody paid money to see me,” she said.
“There is a part of me that still thinks really why? That is always lovely to just see the kind of connection that people make to my work. I am also very moved by the idea of human connection, so people who are so different from you.
“They read you and they say to you ‘this was me’.”
She also recalled one particularly encounter with a woman in Copenhagen, Denmark, who told her, “You make me feel stronger”.
“In all of my touring, the most moving that actually brought me to tears was a woman in Copenhagen,” she added.
“She just looked at me and she said to me ‘you make me feel stronger’”.
The novelist has received global recognition and won numerous awards for her work.
In 2019, Adichie became the first Nigerian to receive the United Nations Foundation’s Global Leadership award.
The writer has also made the New African’s list of ‘100 Most Influential Africans’, New Yorker’s ’20 under 40′, and Time Magazine’s ‘100 Most Influential People’.
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