By Erin Stott To paraphrase Ebony Utley’s review of ‘Purple Hibiscus’: the power of this narrative is that we readers – through Kambili’s perspective and cognition – sense and feel the oppression that laces the novel, without ever naming it. Whilst young Kambili’s voice cannot fully articulate the effects of colonialism, strict catholicism or hypermasculinity that permeate every element of …

By Riziki Millanzi “’Imagine what the Standard would be if we were all quiet.’ It was a joke. Ade Coker was laughing; so was his wife, Yewande. But Papa did not laugh. Jaja and I turned and went back upstairs, silently.” There’s a well-known saying in the English language that says that ‘sometimes silence speaks louder than words’. In Purple …

Talking about her first published book, Purple Hibiscus, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie describes how, “in a sense it’s kind of my first baby and it’s the first baby that I’ve sent out into the world, and when I wrote that book I didn’t think anybody would read it. I thought maybe four people would; three family and one friend!” Well, she …