In the spirit of meeting your heroes

My mum had been obsessed with collecting those magazines but I doubt she knew what that particular issue meant to me. I read Adichie's exclusive interview about her winning the Commonwealth prize and I instantly fell in love. A couple of years after that, I was finally privileged to read my first Adichie literature — Purple Hibiscus.

People like to downplay the need for representation in the media — and the need for a mentor — but seeing a woman being recognised on a global platform for her art made me start to feel like all the terrible stories and plays I wrote in my journals and at the back of my exercise books could matter.

Reading Half of A Yellow Sun for me was life-changing, not only because I was obsessed with writing and reading about the civil war, but because I was in awe at how someone who didn't experience the war could detail and build around it so well.

She always says, "I was a feminist before I even knew the word," and the same is true for me. So, when she made the decision to begin speaking about the movement on a global scale, it aligned with me perfectly.

It's no surprise that in 2013, I made it a life goal to meet Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and I did... twice in three days.

Saturday, September 22, 2018

Like many of the people in the tightly-packed room that Saturday evening, I was nervous about meeting my hero. I was hoping that by the end of the night, I would have a picture with her, a book signed and a satisfied smile on my face.

Unfortunately, I had arrived late so I didn't get a front seat but I didn't get bummed out. People had come from all over the country — a friend of mine came from Enugu — just to get to see her. Getting a ticket to the event was a miracle of its own so I only felt lucky. I had so many questions that were finally going to be answered.

The backlash from Adichie's response to gender rights and obsolete cultural practices came up in her conversation with some youths in Lagos. ece-auto-gen

When Chimamanda did arrive, all grudges I held about waiting for almost two hours flew out the window. Saying I was disoriented would be an understatement. She was — is — so beautiful. Thankfully, Franchesca Ururi, the gracious host for the event, gave us a minute to take it all in.

We could ask her anything... but what were the questions I had again? Her voice — even though I had heard it a thousand times and had her 2012 TED talk memorised — was surprisingly deep and creamy but still light, like her words were hugging you.

Maybe, I expected that.

What I didn't expect was her being so humorous. She quipped and laughed and rolled her eyes, telling us about getting Dior whenever she wanted and how Nigerians should supply her with kneepads for kneeling for her husband as her knees are quite soft.

She was very candid, thankfully, about her personal life, career and feminism. The exciting details about an evening with Chimamanda are here.

I will not dwell on the fact that we may or may not have a new novel from her soon, but what did move me was when she talked about her self-care methods.

Meeting Hillary Clinton was a huge milestone for her, but the experience was marred by the controversy over asking the former presidential aspirant about the "wife" in her bio. She said she had come back so excited that she had finally met — and bonded with — one of her heroes, but all Nigerians could do was bring out ugliness from it. She said, for the first time, she rethought how she felt about Nigeria and now refers to self care as putting space between herself and Nigeria. She got a bit teary — could be from dry eyes.

It was time for the book signing and I collected myself to fawn and awe. I hung around till most of the crowd had dispersed — to increase my chances of getting a picture with her — but when I got to her, I froze.

She signed my book, looked at me and smiled, expecting me to say something and I just smiled back and thanked her. Unfortunately, the ground did not open up to swallow me, despite my prayers to the universe.

But, all hope was not lost. I was going to see her on Monday.

Monday, September 24, 2018

This was for work, so I was more prepared. I had more serious questions and this time I was going to ask them. This time we spent almost three hours waiting and I thought, this woman likes to come late.

I felt more confident for some reason — me, sitting there jotting down questions like no tomorrow.

Meeting Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ece-auto-gen

As usual, the grudges faded away when she arrived. Unlike the Saturday event, this was a smaller crowd, filled with press — many of whom have very divergent views from the one Chimamanda champions.

She was asked about feminism in an attempt to tackle and antagonise, which she was ready for, of course. This time, she didn't quip or roll her eyes jokingly. When she did roll her eyes, it was because she was irritated.

The room became rowdy at a point but she was able to rein it in.

Despite my reservations, I finally asked a question: she likes to speak a lot about politics in the U.S. but hardly dabbles into Nigerian politics. She responds, "I have a problem with being told what I should talk about. I talk about the things that I care about, and in the past, when I've been passionate about things in this country, I talk about them. I wrote a piece about , I wrote about the law that criminalises homosexuality because I feel very strongly about that."

I almost passed out.

She might have been offended but I had to do my job.

After the event when I walked up to her, she spotted me and quickly said, "Oh, you go write about Nigerian politics now," and laughed. I laughed too, what choice did I have?

She asked me my name, which I told her, and she immediately started speaking in Igbo to me. It was like a rush that I will treasure forever.

Someone was already taking our picture but she was still talking to me, then she noticed and said: "Wait-wait, let me arrange myself, can't you see how fine she is?"

Life made.

My heart was full and so was my stomach, even though I hadn't eaten all day.