“Why I Fell In Love With Chimamanda’s Novel, Americanah” – Black Panther Actress Lupita Nyong’o
Kenyan Oscar-winning actress, Lupita Nyong’o has said she is in love with writer, Chimamanda Adichie’s novel, Americanah.
The actress said this on February 22 while being hosted alongside the Nigerian Creative Industry at Ebonylife Place in Lagos by Chimamanda Adichie to promote the screen-adaptation of Americanah.
Nyong’o, who is famous for her roles in critically-acclaimed movies such as 12 Years a Slave and Black Panther, is set to play a major role in the screen adaptation of the novel.
She explained that she fell in love with the book because of Chimamanda’s unique ability to bring the characters to life.
While addressing other invited guest, Nyong’o revealed that she awestruck by Chimamanda’s ability to capture such exquisite characters in a way that made her laugh but also made her feel seen.
According to her, she had read other books by the writer – Half of a Yellow Sun and Purple Hibiscus saying “both of them were incredible”.
This fueled her anticipation for the next book, Americanah, which she pre-ordered long before its release in April 2013.
She noted that;
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.
Speaking further, Nyong’o noted that one of the things she feels privileged to do is to bring specificity to the African story.
The Black Panther actress explained that the vague and generalised representations of Africa is a trend she hopes to see less of which is one of the reasons she’s excited to be among the cast of Americanah, as it is expected to be set in Nigeria.
She added that she “appreciates the warm welcome” so far in the country, among other things and is also excited to share some of the Igbo Language and Pidgin she had picked up in the course of her brief stay.
HBO Max, an American subscription video-on-demand streaming service, gave a straight-to-series order for the Americanah project in 2019.
Nyong’o is set to star and also act as Executive Producer on the 10-episode limited series.
The actress cum writer visited Lagos after she emerged winner of the ‘Outstanding Literary Work- Children’ category for ‘Sulwe’, her novel at the 2020 NAACP Awards.
Nyong’o had taken to her Instagram page shortly after the award to celebrate the feat.
See some photos below:
