“Stories matter. And words matter.” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie at the PEN America Symposium

“Stories matter. And words matter.” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie at the PEN America Symposium

On Monday, September 12, at a sold-out event in New York that celebrated the centenary of the free expression group PEN America, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was among the many literary luminaries who took to the stage to talk about censorship and free speech, especially in writing.

Soon after taking the stage, Adichie brought up the brutal attack on Salman Rushdie, the author of The Satanic Verses, who was stabbed onstage last month at a literary event in upstate New York.

“After the attack on Salman Rushdie, I couldn’t stop thinking about it,” she said, going on to imagine “the brutal and barbaric intimacy of someone standing inches from you and forcefully plunging a knife into your flesh,” simply “because you wrote.”

She ended her speech with a “small story”, in which she went on to revisit the passing of the draconian Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act passed into law by the Nigerian government in 2014, and her personal experience of how storytelling can create change where prejudice once thrived.

Previous HE THAT FINDETH A WIFE
Next The Proposal: A Lesbian and Three Queer Men Are Looking For Connections For Marriage

About author

You might also like

The Happenings 17 Comments

Tim Cook talks about being gay role model

This past Sunday, 60 Minutes devoted much of its episode to an interview with Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple and the most powerful gay man in the world. While

The Happenings 16 Comments

Afrika Bambaataa Faces Allegations of Sexual Abuse with Minor

Hip-hop co-founder Afrika Bambaataa is on the receiving end of sexual misconduct allegations that started surfacing last month. The allegations started from former New York State Democratic Committee member Ronald

The Happenings 0 Comments

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Says Of President Buhari: “He Acts Like Engaging Nigerians Is Beneath Him.”

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has described the government of Muhammadu Buhari as ineffectual and the president as someone who acts as though engaging with Nigerians is beneath him. She wrote this

0 Comments

No Comments Yet!

You can be first to comment this post!

Leave a Reply