CHIMAMANDA Ngozi Adichie arrived on stage to a rock star’s reception, and her reaction set the tone for an utterly absorbing hour. She drank in the cheers and applause with a warm smile and without a hint of self-consciousness.
Her actions – accepting praise without a cringe, engaging with an 11-year-old girl without talking down – were almost as inspiring as her words.
She confessed at the start that an invitation to speak at Edinburgh International Book Festival was not in itself enough to lure her away from her writing work ... but the promise of Nicola Sturgeon as event chair sealed the deal. “I’m a fangirl,” she said with a twinkle.
Sturgeon briefly answered a couple of her questions about being a woman in politics, but the First Minister was strict about sticking to her role as interviewer. She did speak of becoming self-censoring once she learned how the media could take snippets out of context, and I wondered if she felt a nervous pang when Adichie told the audience they’d been discussing shoes, and declared this just as important as a conversation about Brexit.
She explained that We Should All Be Feminists, the 2012 TED talk that became a global sensation, was not inspired by any seminal feminist texts, as she hadn’t read them (and still hasn’t managed to finish all of those she’s started). Instead it was based on her own observations and thinking about the world. It was brilliant and bold, but then Adichie was not raised to doubt her own abilities – a Nigerian breakfast is washed down with a cup of arrogance, she quipped.
In an hour that covered writing about history, race relations in contemporary America, and the liberation of both men and women, the pair kept returning to politics, and in particular the fact that female politicians are damned if they show emotion and damned if they don’t. Adichie also highlighted the false assumption that women are innately morally better than men, and the harsher judgement that follows if they fail to live up to expectations. Progress will come, she said, when men get over their preoccupation with measuring a certain part of their anatomy. Sturgeon, and everyone else in the room, most definitely agreed.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here