“Half of a Yellow Sun” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie remains a classic as far as fictional books, written to tell the story of the Nigerian Civil war, are concerned.
The Book, which Adichie describes as an “Imaginative narration of a factual event’ tells the story of the struggle for independence by the Biafran people and the reality of the war during the struggle in the late 1960s.
In a recent video to commemorate 50th years after the war, the award-winning author took time to answer some questions about the novel and the process that went into writing it.
Adichie, who was born seven years after the war, revealed that her parents lost everything they had during the cause of the war.
According to her, both her grandfathers died in separate refugee camps during the war. She added that the war changed her family’s life trajectory
“I have to say I didn’t choose to write about Biafra. Biafra chose me. My family survived the war. My parents lost everything they owned. My brother Chucks was born during the war,”
“I would say that my family’s trajectory was sharply divided and changed by the war. For me, there was before the war, and after the war. I was born seven years after the war ended.
“But I always felt that it was present in our lives. Both of my grandfathers died in it and I grew up hearing about them. I think I just have always wanted to make sense of this part of my history.” She stated
In the question and answer section, she revealed how the process of putting the book together affected her mental health and how she sank into depression after she was done with the book.
“When I was writing the book I really didn’t have a life. “Half of a Yellow Sun” was my life. I wasn’t returning phone calls, I was really obsessed, especially the last year of writing the book”.
“And I remember thinking, I can’t wait to be done. when I’m done… finally when I was done. Writing the book felt like been held by something. it really feels like though my ancestor wanted me to do this. When I finished it, I would be free. But I sank into my deepest, darkest depressions.” She said.
Watch the section below:
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