JINHA

NEWS CENTER – Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, speaking in her awards speech for the Girls Write Now award last week, had a message for young women: stop trying to be likeable.

“I think that what our society teaches young girls — and I think that it’s something that’s quite difficult for even older women, self-confessed feminists, to shrug off — is this idea that likeability is an essential part of the space you occupy in the world," said Chimamanda in her acceptance speech for the 2015 prize from the foundation Girls Write Now. The foundation mentors young women writers—an activity Chimamanda has experience with through the creative writing workshops she has held in Nigeria and the U.S. The author, known for novels that address women's experience against the backdrop of postcolonial oppression, denounced the pressure on young women to hold back and not be "pushy" in order to be likeable.

“What I want to say to the young girls is forget about likeability — if you start off thinking about being likeable you’re not going to tell your story honestly. Because you’re going to be so concerned with not offending and that’s going to ruin your story," said Chimamanda. "The world is such a wonderful, diverse, multi-faceted place that there’s somebody that’s going to like you — you don’t need to twist yourself into shapes.”

Chimamanda's latest novel, Americanah, tells the story of a young Nigerian woman who (like Chimamanda herself) goes to the United States for an education. It won the 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award, was named one of the top 10 books of 2013 by the New York Times and was shortlisted for the UK's Bailey Women's Prize.

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