AHEAD of the adaptation of her award-winning book, Americanah, into a HBO TV series; Chimamanda Adichie, last week hosted Kenyan-born Hollywood actor Lupita Nyong’o Lagos. The private reception was a star-studded affair with some of the biggest names in Nigeria’s corporate and creative industries in attendance.
The Kenyan actor will be playing the lead character in Americanah, Ifemelu, acting alongside other Hollywood stars like Zackary Momoh, Uzo Aduba, and Corey Hawkins.
Some of the notable guests at the invitation only event included former governor and first lady of Cross Rivers State Donald and Onari Duke; Richard Mofe-Damijo, Joke Silva & Olu Jacobs; Chairman of Seplat Petroleum Dr ABC Orjiako; Senator Daisy Danjuma; Hajia Bola Shagaya; Femi Kuti, Onyeka Onwenu, Managing Partners of Sahel Consulting, Ndidi & Mezuo Nwuneli; D’Banj; Dakore Egbuson-Akande; Omawumi Megbele; Flavour; Waje, Falana and a host of others.
Adichie won everyone’s heart when she introduced the room full of guests (over 100) to Lupita, saying personal things about each person and their work.
Another highlight of the night was when Lupita shared her love for the book Americanah and how much of a Chimamanda fan she’s been. Revealing sweetly that the writer was her only Google alert at the time Americanah was released. Having read the first two novels – Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun. Nyong’o said she pre-ordered Americanah before it was released in 2013 and then went on to pursue the writer before getting the rights to the book.
“I was awestruck by her ability to capture such exquisite character in a way that made me laugh but also made me feel seen,” the actress said.
“I remember finishing the book and falling madly in love with Obinze… At this point, he’s like the standard man that I’m still looking for, but I just felt like this is a character that I would love to embody on screen because what I do is act and her characters were just so actable” she said.
“… So, I’m here (in Lagos) to immerse myself and learn as much as I can in order to do the story justice,” she added, sharing that part of Americanah will be shot in Nigeria. She also revealed that she is learning Igbo language and Pidgin.
Adichie in a beautiful bookmark inserted in signed copies of Americanah which were placed on guests’ seats at the reception wrote: “As writers, we write hoping that our work will touch another human being. When Lupita wrote to me, I was very moved. She was genuine and true; it was clear my novel mattered deeply to her. Of course a screen adaptation is never going to be exactly like a novel but I think it’s important that whoever adapts a novel should care about it in a very personal way. Americanah is my ‘baby’ and I’m happy leaving my ‘baby’ in Lupita’s care.”
In September 2019, it was announced that Americanah had been picked up by HBO as a TV series to be produced by Brad Pitt’s company, Plan B. The 10-episode limited series will see Lupita Nyong’o who will not only star in the series but also executive produce it as well as Black Panther co-star, Danai Gurira who wrote the pilot and will serve as show runner.
The book was published in 2013, winning the National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award for that same year and has gone on to receive more awards and recognitions including being listed in the 2019 Washington Post’s The best books to read at every age, from 1 to 100.
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