15th September, 2022
By Nehru Odeh
Bestselling writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is one of the distinguished writers expected at the 2022 New Yorker Festival, which holds between 7 and 9 October.
The multiple award-winning writer and feminist will be in conversation with Hari Kunzru on 8 October at the SVA Theatre in New York.
The event will be moderated by Parul Seghal. And their conversation will revolve around writing and race.
The New Yorker Festival, which was first held in 1999 is an annual event organized by the New Yorker magazine to celebrate the arts and ideas.
The three-day event features leading figured from the worlds of writing, film, comedy, music and more. And It is held in venues in and around New York City every October, bringing together “a who’s who of the arts, politics and everything in between.”
The festival, which is in its 23rd year, has become a major draw for cultural Icons. It offers an array of panels, performances and conversations.
However, this is not the first time Chimamanda, who is in hot demand globally will be a guest at the festival. In 2009, she was a guest at the festival where she read from her 2009 collection of stories, The Thing Around Your Neck. The hall was filled to capacity and one of her fans suggested a Nobelist in the making during the Q&A.
In 2011, Chimamanda was in conversation with Aleksander Hemon and Hisham Matar. She spoke on exile. The event was moderated by Philip Gourevitch.
In 2017, she was in conversation with David Remnick in which she talked about the black experience in America and how the left often cannibalizes itself.
That event turned out to be epochal. as it held the year after Donald Trump became President of the United States. Chimamanda’s speech was a wake-up call, as she critiqued the left for failing to prioritize and work together for unity.
“I think the left doesn’t know how to be a tribe, in the way that the right does,” she said. The left is very cannibalistic. It eats its own.”
In 2021, Chimamanda was also in conversation with Charlayna Hunter-Gault and Jamaica Kincaid. They spoke about race in America and beyond. The event was moderated by Jelani Cobb.