BBC Homepage
  • Skip to content
  • Accessibility Help
  • Your account
  • Notifications
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
  • More menu
More menu
Search BBC
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
Close menu
BBC News
Menu
  • Home
  • InDepth
  • Israel-Gaza war
  • War in Ukraine
  • Climate
  • UK
  • World
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Culture
More
  • Tech
  • Science
  • Health
  • Family & Education
  • In Pictures
  • Newsbeat
  • BBC Verify
  • Disability
  • BBC Trending

The 'ironic' question of Nigerian writing

  • Published
    29 January 2018
Share page
About sharing
Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieImage source, AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Image caption,

Adichie's Purple Hibiscus was nominated for both the Orange Prize and Booker Prize in 2004

Paul Harrison
BBC UGC and Social News

Thousands of people across social media have been posting about Nigeria's literary heritage after a journalist asked acclaimed writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie if there were any bookshops in her country.

People have tweeted about the author more than 16,000 times since the question was asked in a public interview on Thursday evening in Paris.

A response on Friday posted by Adichie on her Facebook page, external has drawn a further 13,000 reactions and more than a thousand comments, and been shared over 3,000 times across the social networking site.

The interview - part of the Night Of Ideas event, a French government-backed initiative - was broadcast on Twitter, external and Facebook, external by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and has been viewed nearly 38,000 times.

This X post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on X
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip X post by France Diplomacy🇫🇷

Allow X content?

This article contains content provided by X. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read X’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of X post by France Diplomacy🇫🇷

Journalist Caroline Broue asked Adichie if people read her books in Nigeria. Adichie replied, "They do, shockingly."

Broue then asked: "Are there any bookshops in Nigeria?"

Broue added news in France about Nigeria was dominated by stories of Boko Haram and violence, and the bookshop question was an invitation for Adichie to talk about a different aspect of her country.

Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieImage source, AFP/Getty Images
Image caption,

Adichie has called for Broue not to be "pilloried"

The author of Americanah and Purple Hibiscus replied: "I think it reflects very poorly on French people that you have to ask me that question.

"My books are read in Nigeria. They are studied in schools. Not just Nigeria, across the continent in Africa."

You might also like:

  • The country where the streets clean themselves (or maybe not)

  • Iranians compare Shah's regime with clerics'

  • What's the issue with this banker's wardrobe?

Some people took to Twitter to provide figures on libraries and bookshops across Nigeria, external.

This X post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on X
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip X post 2 by ADEKANMBI JAMIU

Allow X content?

This article contains content provided by X. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read X’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of X post 2 by ADEKANMBI JAMIU
Presentational white space

Others praised the author's reply and criticised the journalist's questions, but acknowledged the "reality" of the perception of Nigeria, external.

This X post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on X
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip X post 3 by Ronke Lawal

Allow X content?

This article contains content provided by X. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read X’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of X post 3 by Ronke Lawal
Presentational white space
This X post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on X
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip X post 4 by Lious

Allow X content?

This article contains content provided by X. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read X’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of X post 4 by Lious

Some wished to remind people of Nigeria's literary heritage, by citing writers and poets such as Wole Soyinka, external, Chinua Achebe and Ben Okri.

In 1986, Soyinka was the first African to be awarded the Nobel prize for literature. Achebe won the Man Booker International Prize in 2007, beating writers including Ian McEwan and Salman Rushide.

However, some respondents thought such writers were not being read enough, external in their home country.

This X post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on X
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip X post 5 by Oluwafisayo

Allow X content?

This article contains content provided by X. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read X’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of X post 5 by Oluwafisayo
Presentational white space

In her Facebook post the day after the interview, Adichie said Broue was "trying to be ironic," which had not worked, and wished that the journalist "would not be publicly pilloried."

She added: "I am a Nigerian writer whose early education was in Nigeria. It is reasonable to expect that Nigeria has at least one bookshop, since my books are read there."

More on this story

  • Why Nigerians love flowery language

    • Published
      5 February 2017
    Students writing - generic shot
  • Nigerian novelist: How I was banned from speaking Igbo

    • Published
      30 November 2016
    Adaobi's family
  • Nigeria's disappearing storytellers

    • Published
      25 October 2015
    Nigerian poet Tade Ipadeola signs books after he was awarded with the prestigious Nigeria Prize for Literature during a ceremony in Lagos on 6 March 2014

Around the BBC

  • Meet Nigeria's comic book superheroes

  • Writing a New Nigeria - BBC Radio 4

Related internet links

  • The Secret of Nigerian Book Sales - The New Yorker

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Top stories

  • Live. 

    Netanyahu says Israel intends to take full control of all of Gaza as security cabinet meets

    • 7740 viewing7.7k viewing
  • Interest rates cut to lowest level in more than two years

    • Published
      2 hours ago
  • Faisal Islam: Why has the Bank of England cut rates?

    • Published
      4 hours ago

More to explore

  • Faisal Islam: Why has the Bank of England cut rates?

    Andrew Bailey, Bank of England governor, looks straight at the camera. he's wearing glasses and a dark suit.
  • Why Trump-Putin talks unlikely to bring rapid end to Ukraine war

    A composite image of Donald Trump on the left and Vladimir Putin on the right. Both men are wearing suits.
  • Extra-strong nicotine pouches packaged like children's sweets

    A photo of three small tubs of nicotine pouches. One is orange and has a picture of a smiling orange on the cover with loads of small oranges under neath the word Millions. It does not mention the word nicotine. The Candys pack is pink with colourful gummy bears on it. It says "Sweet nicopods".
  • The secret system Hamas uses to pay government salaries

    Armed members of Hamas stand in camouflage uniforms in front of a white car. Their faces are covered by balaclavas.
  • My 30-year-old world record 'not a good sign for athletics' - Edwards

    • Attribution
      Sport
    Jonathan Edwards celebrates after setting the triple jump world record in 1995
  • On Ukraine's front line, twisted wreckage shows sanctions haven't yet stopped Russia

    Dymtro Chubenko stands in front of a pile of Russian missile and drone parts
  • I have complex PTSD but waiting list means I've only seen psychiatrist once in 10 years

    Amy
  • How Europe is vying for rare earth independence from China

    Storage tanks and overhead pipes amid a bright blue sky at Solvay's rare earths processing facility in La Rochelle, western France
  • Summer Essential: Your family’s guide to the summer, delivered to your inbox every Tuesday

    concentric circles ranging from orange to yellow to represent the sun, with a blue sky background
loading elsewhere stories

Most read

  1. 1

    Pair arrested after water sprayed at Orthodox Jews

  2. 2

    Ex-Superman actor says he's becoming ICE agent

  3. 3

    Daily weight loss pill could help patients lose 12% of body weight

  4. 4

    UK says British Steel's Chinese owners demanding millions

  5. 5

    Faisal Islam: Why has the Bank of England cut rates?

  6. 6

    Dozens of migrants detained under 'one in, one out' deal with France

  7. 7

    David Lammy to host JD Vance at country residence

  8. 8

    Housing minister faces calls to resign over rent hike 'hypocrisy'

  9. 9

    Interest rates cut to lowest level in more than two years

  10. 10

    Why Trump-Putin talks unlikely to bring rapid end to Ukraine war

BBC News Services

  • On your mobile
  • On smart speakers
  • Get news alerts
  • Contact BBC News

Destination X

  • Your latest reality TV obsession has landed on iPlayer

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    Destination X
  • Rob Brydon welcomes you to Destination X

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    Destination X
  • Get on board and play along at home

    • Attribution
      Game
    Destination X Game
  • Where the X are they off to next?

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    Destination X
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
  • Terms of Use
  • About the BBC
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies
  • Accessibility Help
  • Parental Guidance
  • Contact the BBC
  • Make an editorial complaint
  • BBC emails for you

Copyright © 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.