“Teach her about difference. Make difference ordinary. Make difference normal. Teach her not to attach value to difference. And the reason for this is not to be fair or to be nice but merely to be human and practical. Because difference is the reality of our world. And by teaching her about difference, you are equipping her to survive in a diverse world. She must know and understand that people walk different paths in the world and that as long as those paths do no harm to others, they are valid paths that she must respect. Teach her that we do not know – we cannot know – everything about life. Both religion and science have spaces for the things we do not know, and it is enough to make peace with that. Teach her never to universalise her own standards or experiences. Teach her that her standards are for her alone, and not for other people. This is the only necessary form of humility: the realisation that difference is normal.”

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About Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Nigerian writer

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian writer known for fiction, nonfiction, and lectures. She is a leading voice in postcolonial feminist literature. Her work crosses genres, but remains closely associated with questions of gender, power, identity, and the legacies of colonial history. She has become widely recognised for writing that speaks to those themes with clarity and force.

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Books by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Americanah

2017

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Half of a Yellow Sun

2006

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The Thing Around Your Neck

2009

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We Should All Be Feminists

2015

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Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions

2018

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