Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

So you kind of start with lockdown was your canvas and you can really do anything with it. So I remember, I'm not sure, I didn't set out to, I don't even think of it as a COVID novel. I think of it as, because COVID in some ways is only a, so you want a character who's looking back. You want a character who I'm very interested in looking back. I'm very, I'm almost addicted to nostalgia.

So you kind of start with lockdown was your canvas and you can really do anything with it. So I remember, I'm not sure, I didn't set out to, I don't even think of it as a COVID novel. I think of it as, because COVID in some ways is only a, so you want a character who's looking back. You want a character who I'm very interested in looking back. I'm very, I'm almost addicted to nostalgia.

I'm kind of always, you know, and a kind of melancholy as well. COVID just felt to me the perfect setting to have that character look back. And so she's locked down. She's alone in her house. And she looks back. So I think if COVID hadn't happened, I suppose I would have, maybe I would have made her fall sick and then be in hospital.

I'm kind of always, you know, and a kind of melancholy as well. COVID just felt to me the perfect setting to have that character look back. And so she's locked down. She's alone in her house. And she looks back. So I think if COVID hadn't happened, I suppose I would have, maybe I would have made her fall sick and then be in hospital.

Yes. Okay. Yes. It's not that I think that COVID had any, well, it's up to the reader. I was going to say, I don't think COVID has any particular meaning in the novel. No. But I think it's to say that the sort of authorial intent was not to make COVID a character, really, but to make COVID backdrop.

Yes. Okay. Yes. It's not that I think that COVID had any, well, it's up to the reader. I was going to say, I don't think COVID has any particular meaning in the novel. No. But I think it's to say that the sort of authorial intent was not to make COVID a character, really, but to make COVID backdrop.

Because I think that COVID, I don't think I've written, this is not the COVID novel, because I think there's just so much more that would have to be in it to make it the COVID novel, if that makes sense. Yeah, I understand.

Because I think that COVID, I don't think I've written, this is not the COVID novel, because I think there's just so much more that would have to be in it to make it the COVID novel, if that makes sense. Yeah, I understand.

Love, dreams, a certain kind of melancholy, longing. I think it's my most grown-up novel, which is to say that it's the novel in which I'm most willing to acknowledge even embrace uncertainty and I don't need to have all the answers and I don't need to I don't need to you know have it all together I feel like I had a sense of responsibility with Half of a Yellow Sun, for example.

Love, dreams, a certain kind of melancholy, longing. I think it's my most grown-up novel, which is to say that it's the novel in which I'm most willing to acknowledge even embrace uncertainty and I don't need to have all the answers and I don't need to I don't need to you know have it all together I feel like I had a sense of responsibility with Half of a Yellow Sun, for example.

And with Americana, I was setting myself free from being the good daughter of literature. I was like, I'm just going to do what I want. And now I feel like I've grown up. So dream counts. I mean, of course, it's also my diary, as Trevor said. It feels like it to me. It really does. That's the best thing I've heard in a long time.

And with Americana, I was setting myself free from being the good daughter of literature. I was like, I'm just going to do what I want. And now I feel like I've grown up. So dream counts. I mean, of course, it's also my diary, as Trevor said. It feels like it to me. It really does. That's the best thing I've heard in a long time.

Wait, what do you mean by that? Because it's a book about women's lives.

Wait, what do you mean by that? Because it's a book about women's lives.

Yeah, well, okay. Because I have some pretty good men in my life and I don't know that I could have that rule.

Yeah, well, okay. Because I have some pretty good men in my life and I don't know that I could have that rule.

Friends.

Friends.

But really, back to Trevor's question. Who did you... Yes, we know that you're... Okay, so...

But really, back to Trevor's question. Who did you... Yes, we know that you're... Okay, so...