Team Members

Amanda, Associate Editor

I had never owned a book by Chimamanda Adiche until I started working for AFREADA.

I had first pulled Purple Hibiscus off the library shelf at 11 years old and put it on a pile I was checking out: I was trying to smoke a girl, whose name I can’t recall, in a reading marathon. When I got down to reading it, I picked it up and thought the cover was meh, but that first sentence completely collected me. I wasn’t returned even after I finished it because I thought about it so long afterwards.

In one of our team meetings I shared, very casually, that I had read Chimamanda’s books only out of libraries. Nancy gasped. Later that week I received all Chimamanda’s works to date in the post. I would describe this as generosity if I didn’t remember how Nancy looked like I had said that I hadn’t eaten all week when I told them. I think she saw it as an imperative. Either way I’m very grateful!

When Nancy’s delivery came, the first story I read was ‘Ghost’ from ‘The Thing Around Your Neck’ and I had the exact same experience. I kept thinking about it – the story, her skill, the language. I think Chimamanda’s writing is so deft and so enjoyable that if the world had not received Purple Hibiscus (and everything that followed) we would have lacked.

Zulaikhah, Publishing Assistant

The first time I picked up Purple Hibiscus must have been between 2007-2009. I was 10 years old and already something of a prodigy, helping my mother grade papers from her senior secondary school literature classes.

By then I'd read all the Non-African classics in the WAEC syllabus (Silas Marner, Tess of the D'urbervilles etc) and I'd also cut my teeth in African classics with Things Falls Apart, Joys of Motherhood and Efuru (a little light reading on the side). Then Purple Hibiscus came along.

As I flipped through the pages, the strongest thing I remember feeling was surprise. It hadn't occurred to me that a story like this could be told; an ordinary story, a story about family, a story about identity, a story about girlhood, a story about love. I was in awe.

To this day, I think Purple Hibiscus played the biggest role in my decision to go into publishing. My goal is simple: find more stories like this, and maybe write a few myself.

Community Members

Sybil:

I first came across Purple Hibiscus in secondary school, as a recommended text for literature students. As a science student, I got curious when my two friends argued about the extremism of Eugene, and I decided to borrow the book to read.

At the first reading, all I wanted to do was visit Enugu and smell Ixora plants. I was also about the same age as Kambili, experiencing similar feelings as she was; a shy teenage girl trying to be a good daughter, all against the backdrop of a conservative family dynamic. And no freer have I ever felt than the scene where Kambili, nudged by Father Amadi, let herself have fun.

Solomon:

I was in SS1, going through past WAEC questions in English Language and Literature and noticed about 3 questions asked were from a book called Purple Hibiscus. Then, we read passages taken from the novel in our English Language textbook, so I pressurized my mother to purchase the novel for me and the rest is history.

That was in 2012 and I can't keep count of how many number of times I have read the book. It's one of the best books I've read especially since I could relate easily with the narrator considering my introversion. Purple Hibiscus is that classic debut novel.

Cee:

I spent too many hours, days, reading and re-reading this book, as a teenager. The plot, the characters, the familiar narration mirroring a reality a lot of us did not have words for. Forever timeless.

Peter:

Living in Abuja which isn't the farthest place from the southeast, I still remember how nostalgic Purple Hibiscus made me feel.

Hafsat:

Purple Hibiscus has a special place in our hearts, always, forever.