Statement from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

This person has created a space in which social media followers have – and this I find unforgiveable – trivialized my parents’ death, claiming that the sudden and devastating loss of my parents within months of each other during this pandemic, was ‘punishment’ for my ‘transphobia.’

This is completely disgusting. I lost my own father suddenly last year, and was so moved by Chimamanda's writing about losing hers, and then so sad to read that after that she lost her mother too. I don't think anyone can say she doesn't have the right to call out such despicable, inhuman behaviour.

It's interesting how many protegees are happy to bite the hand that fed them. Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and now this writer.

Sorry - in my first sentence 'her' refers to Adichie and in the second, 'her' refers to the new writer.

I loved Half a Yellow Sun and found it very interesting historically as well as I am old enough to have spent half my childhood being told to eat all my food on my plate because of Biafra starving children.

Same here. And at that age, I assumed, not knowing any better, that the children were starving because of famine caused by crop failure or similar. Had no idea about that people were being deliberately starved by a hostile power and, worse, that our own government was complicit.

Very interested to see this because it was the reaction to that 2017 interview that alerted me to this issue. People talk about peak trans moments - that was mine.

Like some other pps, I did find this piece uncomfortable. For me, the halfway house between being completely open (appreciate there are likely to be good reasons for this) and leaving out identifying info to focus on the wider issues discussed in the third section was unsatisfactory. Reproducing the emails in particular came across as airing dirty laundry and didn’t add anything.

Third section cannot be faulted, however.

[quote FannyCann]Associated twitter thread

twitter.com/yatakalam/status/1405080067110232065?s=21[/quote]
My jaw is on the floor reading that torrent of malice. What an extraordinarily unpleasant individual.

She is magnificent.

Her books are beautiful

Associated twitter thread

twitter.com/yatakalam/status/1405080067110232065?s=21

I loved Half a Yellow Sun and found it very interesting historically as well as I am old enough to have spent half my childhood being told to eat all my food on my plate because of Biafra starving children.

Just posting a couple of related twitter threads, including reference to that disgraceful tweet.

twitter.com/womenreadwomen/status/1405078690854182914?s=21

Ereshkigalangcleg I was aware of the tendency, but what blows my mind about that tweet is that someone could write it in all seriousness - it's like an overwritten Bond villain. "I do hope my friends with machetes don't take exception to you Mr Bond: I of course am far too lovely to sully my hands with such matters." How can anyone pretend it's not plain old illegal incitement to murder?

In any other context, with any other target, it would obviously be seen as a crime.

Thanks @PaleGreenGhost and @InvisibleDragon. I've got some learning to do.

That tweet is horrific. I bought her book the other day not realising, the first chapter is genuinely intriguing. But I cannot in good faith read it now.

Does anyone know who the other author mentioned is? I read a lot of books by Nigerian authors, mainly because of my love of Chimamanda's work. I don't want to support either of these authors.

Thank you for linking to this it is devastating to read. I will be sharing it far and wide. She is a writer whose books have profoundly changed how I see the world. If you have not read her work yet I can highly recommend the audiobooks of ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ and ‘Americanah’ which is beautifully read by Adjoah Andoh.

And also they have written:

Pet, released on 10 September 2019, is about a transgender teenager named Jam living in a world where adults refuse to acknowledge the existence of monsters.[22]

Thanks. It says this on their Wiki:

In 2019, Freshwater was nominated for the Women's Prize for Fiction — the first time a non-binary transgender author has been nominated for the prize. Kate Williams, the chair of the judges, called it a "historic moment". Williams said that the panel did not know Emezi was non-binary when the book was chosen, but she said Emezi was happy to be nominated.[19] Non-binary commentator Vic Parsons wrote that the nomination raised uncomfortable questions, asking: "would a non-binary author who was assigned male at birth have been longlisted? I highly doubt it."[20] After the nomination, it was announced that the Women's Prize Trust was working on new guidelines for transgender, non-binary, and genderfluid authors.]

That tweet is horrible! Inciting violence while in the SAME TWEET pretending to be all gentle and lovely! That’s even worse somehow.

Not uncommon with trans activist Twitter IME where many anime avatar types are posting cutesy emojis, flowers and baby animals, and complaining about how "exhausting" everything is, interspersed with wishes that women would be raped and killed in graphic ways.

That's this movement in a nutshell for me. Rank hypocrisy and utter, wilful lack of self-awareness. And I agree wholeheartedly with the brilliant CNA, it IS obscene.

Thanks for posting OP. I've been seeing this tweet shared and wondered what it all stemmed from but reading the essay it makes sense now.

It does.

I think Chimamanda has acted with generosity and class towards the younger writer for longer than many would. I understand why she had to finally take a stand against their almost sociopathic opportunism and hypocrisy. Grief can fill you up so you no longer have any space to hold on to another person's bullshit.

That tweet is horrible! Inciting violence while in the SAME TWEET pretending to be all gentle and lovely! That’s even worse somehow.

Angels jostling to out-angel each other.

Beautifully put.

I read Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun. Both brilliant.

It's been retreated by David Baddiel.

I am not GC and want trans people to be safe and respected (accepting I may have my head bitten off here) but I agree with everything Chimamanda has said about the subject. It is disturbing that simply questioning how we categorise according to sex/gender is taken to be a hate act.

GC stands for gender critical, ie critical of the system of gender which enforces sex stereotypes and oppresses women. It doesn't mean "trans critical". Many trans people don't support the current mainstream trans rights orthodoxy but they don't get such a media platform. I've not come across a person posting here in good faith who doesn't want trans people to be safe and respected. It helps to view the position as a form of atheism. Then you understand that disagreeing with an ideology doesn't equal wishing harm to those who agree.