Popular Nigerian author and activist Chimamanda Adichie has opened up about her decision to keep the birth of her twin sons private.
In an interview with The Guardian UK on Saturday, the 47-year-old revealed that she welcomed the babies in April 2024. Ms Adichie is very private; her marriage to Ivara Esege, a Nigerian-American doctor, is not widely known. The award-winning author married Mr Esege in 2009, and seven years later, in 2016, they welcomed their daughter, now nine years old.
Explaining her decision to keep the twins out of the public eye, she said, “You’ve met my babies. I want to protect my children. I’m okay with mentioning them, but I don’t like the piece to become about them. So, here’s the thing: Nigerians are …
“They want to know about your personal life. Because of that, I am resistant. I very rarely talk about it. There is no reason we should know everything about the lives of our public intellectuals.”
Furthermore, the Enugu-born author announced that she would publish her fourth novel, Dream Count, after a more than 10-year fiction hiatus. Dream Count features the interwoven stories of four women, written in her vivid, bracing, and highly entertaining style. Set in the US and Nigeria, the novel explores the immigrant experience.
