Half of a Yellow Sun, Adichie’s second novel, was released in the US by Knopf earlier this month. Adichie is the author of Purple Hibiscus, one of my favorite books. It won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and was short-listed for the Orange Prize and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, and long-listed for the Booker Prize. To find out more about Adichie and her writing, visit Half of a Yellow Sun’s website.

Also, check out her Back Story in the October issue of Jane magazine. In “My college roomate expected me to be a she-Tarzan,” Chimamanda writes about her move from Nsukka, Nigeria, to Philadelphia, where she attended Drexel Univesity.

It was Michelle who told me during that first week, “Let’s go to lunch.” “How nice,” I thought. In Nigeria, if a person invited you to lunch, it meant that person would pay. After Michelle and I had finished eating, she glanced at the check and told me it was okay if I just gave her enought to cover my entree—I didn’t have to pay for her wine. I stared at her. I didn’t think I had to pay for anything. Fortunately, I had some money and I paid, all the while thinking more and more that I did not like this strange country.

I’m with you on this one, Chimamanda. I don’t get it either. If I invite someone to lunch, I buy. It’s presumptuous to invite someone out and assume they have the means to pay.


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