Adichie focuses on Nigeria's present for new novel

[April 29, 2013]  LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) -- Modern life in Lagos, Nigeria's largest city, has become almost a character itself in novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's new book, "Americanah."

Within its pages, one catches self-acknowledged glimpses of the writer herself, who shot to fame with her previous novel, a love story set during Nigeria's civil war, entitled "Half of a Yellow Sun."

As that book is made into a movie, more international attention is expected to focus on Adichie, who is part of a raft of new Nigerian writers finding acclaim after years of military-induced slumber in a nation with a rich literary history. Yet Adichie, like her new book's heroine, finds herself straddled between a life in the United States and one in Nigeria, where even seemingly innocuous comments on hair care and wigs can stir resentment.

[Associated Press]

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