Abantu festival scores major coup to promote culture of reading
Renowned author and thought leader Adichie will grace the gathering in Soweto with her presence and intellect
Now in its third year, the popular Abantu Book Festival has scored a major coup in convincing the international bestselling author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to come and give a talk at this weekend’s proceedings.
The Nigeria-born author, who has been based in the US for just more than a decade, is a hot ticket, reportedly charging anything up to $100,000 (R1.4m) per appearance.
But it’s not my intention to dwell on what she charges, but to highlight that starting today we will have in our midst somebody who is celebrated for something, unlike those who are famous… for being famous.
One of Africa’s best exports, Adichie is a powerful black woman who writes books that make black people think – about themselves and their place in this challenging world; books about women’s struggles in a patriarchal world; books about fashion and the power of blogging and the internet in the modern world.
For all these things, her face has been splashed on the covers of such international magazines as Vogue and Essence.
Her famous 2012 TEDxTalk We Should All Be
Feminists was so powerful, garnering millions of views online, that Beyonce sampled it on her song Flawless. The two are now the bestest BFFs.
Her 2006 novel Half of a
Yellow Sun was made into a successful movie. Lupita Ny’ongo, the A-lister actress of Wakanda and 12 Years a
Slave fame, has bought rights to Adichie’s other novel,
Americanah, and is going to turn into an HBO TV series, ala Game of Thrones.
Adichie is claiming space that’s been dominated mainly by white male writers. In her books, black people recognise themselves and their struggles and joys. Her books, set in both Nigeria and the US, have sold millions worldwide.
Not your stereotypical writer in raggedy dreadlocks and torn jeans, she is the epitome of sartorial elegance. And, if I have to say so myself, she is easy on the eye. Strike that, she is exquisitely beautiful in that African way. No screaming home-made, bleach-enhanced yellow bone, this.
But I digress. Adichie, who studied at such universities as Yale and held fellowships at Harvard and Princeton, among others, has helped make reading look “cool”, sexy.
This especially in the black community where books have always been dismissed as “hard” and boring. It was because of this attitude towards books in the black community, that we got controlled by those from other racial groups who have a healthy relationship with books.
I get saddened when a black graduate proudly points out that the last time they read a book was when they were still at university. Reading should not end after you’ve passed your exams. It’s a lifetime thing.
Food and water give us physical strength. Reading gives us intellectual strength. It’s as simple as that.
Books are good, cheap entertainment too. But you won’t know this until you start reading.
There was a time when the joke was that if you want to hide something from a black person you simply put it in a book. I believe this orthodoxy is being attacked. About time too.
Black people are beginning to challenge what has been written about them in history books. Needless to say, only those who read will know the lies being told in an attempt to perpetuate the mental slavery of our people.
I am so glad that Abantu Festival has been growing from strength to strength since it launched in Soweto three years ago. It gives me pride to see so many black people in a black neighbourhood buying books, interacting with writers.
I wish such endeavours could be replicated countrywide, to demystify the book to our people many of whom are intimidated by libraries and book stores.
Adichie speaks at 2.30pm today. The festival at Eyethu Lifestyle Centre in Mofolo Central runs until Sunday. For more information visit: www.abantubookfestival.co.za