A traditional title of the Writer of Global Acclaim – “Odeluwa” has been conferred on award-winning Nigerian Novelist and Author, Chimamanda Adichie, at the Palace of the Traditional Ruler of Abba, Leonard Ezeh in Njikoka Local Government Area, Anambra State,
The event held on Friday was also a celebration of the Traditional Ruler’s forty years on the throne
The 45-year-old writer was honoured just weeks after urging youths around the world to devote more time to reading during her speech at The Harvard Centre Honors in Massachusetts, United States of America.
She said; “The most meaningful thing for me as a writer is to know that I can create something that means something to other people. And so what moves me the most is to hear from people who have read me and who say, your work made me feel seen, your work made me think differently, your work made me feel that I was not alone.
“And I’m so grateful for this award because again it just makes me feel that what I’m doing matters and it’s a gift to feel what you’re doing matters.
“For the young people who are here, if you care about anything, please care about reading, reading is so important, reading is magical, books are magical.
“And I really think that one of the best ways to counter what seems to me to be a really ugly tsunami of book bannings going around in this country is to read. The only way that we can answer to censorship of books is to read books.”
Her works include novels, short stories and nonfiction.
Her first novel, Purple Hibiscus received widespread critical acclaim; it was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2004 and was awarded the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book in 2005.
PIAK
