CLASSIFIED
MAY 1-7, 2014 THE VOICE | 19
20 | THE VOICE MAY 1-7, 2014
CLASSIFIED
V living Shares
JACQUELINE  ASAFU-ÂADJAYE  Sponsored  Features  Editor
BASKING IN ADICHIE’S HALF OF A YELLOW SUN By  Marianne  Gray,  CO  -  DIRECTOR  OF  PECKHAMPLEX
N
igerian  author  Chimamanda  Ngozi  Adichie’s  second  novel,  best  selling  Half  of   Yellow  Sun,  about  love  in  the  time  of  the  Biafran  civil  war,  is  now  D ÂżOP VWDUULQJ &KLZHWHO Ejiofor  and  Thandie  Newton  and  is  set  to  run  and  run.  It  is,  as  she  describes,  not  a  romantic  love  story  but  a  love  story  about  love  for  your  country,  a  sense  of  place  and  extended  family.  It  is  a  romantic  urban  drama  that  charts  the  life  of  a  pair  of  wealthy  Lagos  twins,  Olanna  and  Kainene  (Newton  and  Anika  Noni  Rose),  a  university  professor  called  Odenigbo  (Ejiofor)  and  his  houseboy  Ugwu  (John  Boyega)  and  a  guilt- ridden  white  Englishman  (Joseph  Mawle)  during  the  WXUEXOHQFH RI FRQĂ€LFW ‘I  would  have  liked  the  ¿OP HYHQ LI , KDGQÂśW ZULWWHQ the  book,’  she  tells  me  in  London,  where  she  has  come  from  Lagos  so  that  she  can  be  at  the  premiere.  ‘I  love  the  landscape  the  ¿OP FDSWXUHV DQG DEVROXWHO\ admire  the  performances  RI HYHU\RQH LQ WKH ÂżOP working  as  an  ensemble.  ,WÂśV D UHDOO\ JRRG ÂżOP Âś
know  about  the  war?â€?.  One  man  wrote  to  me  and  said:  “Your  father  wrote  that  book  for  youâ€?,  she  recalls.  ‘Everybody  had  advocated  silence  for  this  war,  almost  a  deliberate  amnesia,  with  the  sort  of  “we  don’t  want  to  start  troubleâ€?  attitude.’  She  makes  quotation  marks  with  her  index  fingers.  ‘It’s  still  a  period  of  history  that  is  very  contested.  My  intention  wasn’t  to  upset.  It’s  just  that  I’m  willing  to  –  if  that’s  what  it  takes  to  write  a  book.’ Chimamanda  Ngozi  Adichie,  37  and  elegant,  lives  part  in  Lagos  and  part  in  Maryland,  USA  where  her  husband,  a  Nigerian  physician,  works.  Born  in  Enugu,  her  ancestral  home  is  Abba.  She  grew  up  the  ¿IWK RI VL[ FKLOGUHQ LQ DQ Igbo  family  in  the  university  town  of  Nsukka  where  Nigeria’s  premier  university  is.  Her  father  was  a  professor  of  statistics  at  the  university  and  her  mother  WKH ÂżUVW IHPDOH UHJLVWUDU Âľ:KHQ , ÂżQLVKHG WKH QRYHO I  gave  it  to  my  father  the  day  before  I  left  Nigeria,  so  I  wasn’t  in  the  house  when  he  read  it,’  she  says.  ‘I  had  used  so  many  of  his  stories  about  the  war.   A  few  days  later  he  sent  me  a  text:  ³&DOO PH ,ÂśYH ÂżQLVKHG´ , ZDV WHUULÂżHG WR FDOO KLP EXW he  said:  “I  knew  the  novel  would  be  good,  I  didn’t  know  it  would  be  this  goodâ€?.
Oscar  contender:  Half  of  a  Yellow  Sun  stars  Chiwetel  Ejiorfor  and  Thandie  Newton Âľ, ZDV KRUULÂżHG WR VHH how  little  the  Americans  know  about  Africa  and  the  simplicity  of  their  attitudes  towards  it.  They’d  ask  me  questions  like  “Do  you  have  houses?â€?.  The  US  educational  system  seemed  slack  compare  to  ours.’ I  ask  her  what  she  thinks  contributes  to  Nigerians’  famous  “swaggerâ€?,  the  attitude  and  unapologeticness  of  the  nation.
Directed  by  British  ¿OPPDNHU %L\L %DQGHOH Chimamanda  wrote  it  when  she  was  29,  as  a  historical  novel  as  well  as  a  deeply  personal  story.  Her  grandfather  had  died  in  a  refugee  camp  during  the  war  between  Nigeria  and  Biafra  in  the  late  1960s  and  is  buried  somewhere  in  a  mass  grave.
Her  agent  also  sent  it  to  Nigeria’s  great  master  of  words,  Chinua  Achebe.  Chimamanda  had  no  idea  of  this  and  when  her  agent  rang  her  in  the  US  to  tell  her  he  had  raved  about  it,  she  burst  into  tears  and  had  to  have  a  strong  drink. ‘He  is  the  closest  I  have  to  a  hero,’  she  smiles.
Joking,  she  replies:  ‘It’s  something  in  the  water  we  drink  there.  I  love  that  kind  of  Nigerian  aggressiveness,  the  “Why  shouldn’t  we?â€?.  We’ll  do  it  loudly  and  without  much  ¿QHVVH DQG ZHÂśUH UDWKHU proud  of  it,  I  think!’
Having  been  born  in  1977  it  was  not  something  she  NQHZ DERXW ÂżUVW KDQG ‘There  were  people  who  had  lived  through  the  war  and  asked:  “what  do  you Â
She  studied  medicine  at  the  University  of  Nigeria  but  didn’t  want  to  be  a  doctor  and  got  a  scholarship  to  Philadelphia  to  study  communications  and  political  science.
Her  latest  novel,  Americanah,  about  Nigerian  immigrants  in  the  USA,  has  just  been  published  and  has  already  won  the  National  Book Â
Critics  of  America  Award.  +HU ÂżUVW ERRN 3XUSOH Hibiscus  was  short-Âlisted  for  the  Orange  Prize  for  Fiction  in  2004.  Half  of  a  Yellow  Sun,  named  after  WKH Ă€DJ RI WKH VKRUW OLYHG nation  of  Biafra,  won  it  in  2007.  She  won’t  say  what  she’s  working  on  now. ‘I  am  very  emotional  when  I  write.  I  can  sit  at  the  keyboard  and  cry.  In  the  end  don’t  we  all  write  about  love?  All  literature  is  about  love.  When  men  do  it,  it’s  a  political  comment  on  human  relations.  When  women  do  it,  it’s  just  a  love  story.’  Half  of  a  Yellow  Sun  is  playing  at  Peckhamplex,  95A  Rye  Lane,  London  SE15  4ST  from  Friday April  11th. www.peckhamplex.com To  book  tickets  call  box  RIÂżFH RQ
“Half  of  a  Yellow  Sun  gives  you  a  journey  into  Africa  like  you've  never  seen  before�
+++++
Jacqueline  Asafu-ÂAdjaye The  Voice  Newspaper Â
CLASSIFIED
MAY 1-7, 2014 THE VOICE | 21
V living Shares
HALF OF A HOT YELLOW SUN A FILM BY BIYI BANDELE Olanna  (Thandie  Newton)  and  Kainene  (Anika  Noni  Rose)  are  glamorous  twins  from  a  wealthy  Nigerian  family.  Returning  to  a  privileged  city  life  in  newly  independent  1960s  Nigeria  after  their  expensive  English  education,  the  two  women  make  very  different  choices.  Olanna  shocks  her  family by  going  to  live  with  her  lover,  the  “revolutionary  professorâ€?  Odenigbo  (Chiwetel  Ejiofor)  and  his devoted  houseboy  Ugwu  (John  Boyega)  in  the  dusty  university  town  of  Nsukka.   Kainene  turns  out  to  EH D ÂżHUFHO\ VXFFHVVIXO businesswoman  when  she  takes  over  the  family  interests,  and  surprises herself  when  she  falls  in  love  with  Richard  (Joseph  Mawle),  an  English  writer.  Preoccupied  by  their  romantic  entanglements,  and  a  betrayal  between  the  sisters,  the  events  of  their  life  loom  larger  than  politics.  However,  they  become  caught  up  in  the  events  of  the  Nigerian  civil  war,  in  which  the  lgbo  people  fought  an  impassioned  struggle  to  establish  Biafra  as  an  independent  republic,  ending  in  chilling  violence  which  shocked  the  entire  country  and  the  world. A  sweeping  romantic  drama,  Half  of  a  Yellow  Sun  takes  the  sisters  and  their  lovers  on  a  journey  through  the  war  which  is  powerful,  intensely  emotional  and,  as  the  response  of  readers  around  the  world  has  shown,  it  is  a  story  which  can  touch  everyone’s  heart.
2
 “It’s  essentially  a  love  story,â€?  says  Biyi  Bandele,  as  he  introduces  his  feature  ¿OP GHEXW DQ DGDSWDWLRQ of  theinternationally  best-Âselling  Orange  Prize  -  winning  novel  of  the  same  name  by  Chimamanda  Ngozi  Adichie.  He  elaborates,  “It’s  about  people  falling  in  love  and  the  VDFULÂżFHV \RX KDYH WR PDNH sometimes  when  you  are  in  a  relationship.â€?  0RUH VSHFLÂżFDOO\ KH explains,  “It  is  about  a  generation  of  Nigerians  who  grew  up  in  the  1960s,  which  is  when  Nigeria  along  with  most  African  countries  gained  independence.  And  this  was  a  generation  of  Nigerians,  who  were  so  LPEXHG ZLWK FRQÂżGHQFH with  enthusiasm,  with  optimism  about  the  future  of  the  country  and  of  Africa.  Before  the  end  of  that  decade  things  begin  to  unravel  before  them,  around  them,  and  the  dream  they  had  for  that  country  becomes  very,  very  complicated.â€? Read  the  full  interview  in  next  week’s  V-ÂLiving
V-Living verdict: This  movie,  has  got  everybody  gasping  and  is  best  described  as  a  new  breed  of  African  true  life  romantic  war  movie.   We  say  watch  this  movie  if  you  like  your  rom-Âaction  delivered  with   a  touch  of  WHUURU D Ă€DVK RI KRSH DQG heavy  slice  of  realism.
HALF A YELLOW SUN FASCINATING FACTS
Biyi  Bandele  sent  the  book  to  Andrea  Calderwood  who  produced  the  Last  King  of  Scotland.  She  read  it  and  came  back  a  week  later  and  agreed  to  make  it  into  a  movie.
DATES FOR THE DIARY
Much  of  the  novel  is  based  on  real  life  events  from  the  author  of  Half  of  a  Yellow  Sun,  Chimamanda  Ngozi  Adichie’s  father’s  life.
Sadler’s  Wells’  critically  acclaimed  international  festival  of  hip  hop  dance  theatre,  Breakin’  Convention,  is  back.  Now  in  its  11th  year,  this  hugely  popular  Sadler’s  Wells  Production  is  hosted  and  curated  by  eminent  UK  hip  hop  theatre  artist  Jonzi  D.  The  2014  line-Âup  includes  Olivier  Award-Ânominated  ILL-ÂAbilities,  an  international  group  of  b-Âboys  who  have  overcome  extraordinary  challenges,  helping  to  spread  the  message  “No  Excuses,  No  Limitsâ€?  and  UHGHÂżQH VRFLHW\ÂśV YLHZ of  disability,  promoting  empowerment.  Also  featuring  is  London’s  Ukweli  Roach,  who  presents  a  piece  titled  Vice.  A  highly  skilled  artist  and  founding  member  of  BirdGang  Dance  Company,  Ukweli  Roach  has  choreographed Â
and  performed  world-Âwide  as  well  as  working  as  an  DFWRU LQ ÂżOP WHOHYLVLRQ DQG theatre.  France’s  Wanted  Posse  is  widely  respected  and  has  won  many  of  the  ZRUOGÂśV PRVW KLJK SURÂżOH hip  hop  dance  battles  for  over  a  decade.  Their  work  expresses  the  roots  of  their  personal  revolutions.  London  has  3  days  of  nonstop  UK  and  international  crews  and  each  tour  dates  opens  with  local  acts  to  represent  hip  hop  in  each  city.   Full  details  on  www.breakinconvention.com  Following  its  dates  at  Sadler’s  Wells,  Breakin’  Convention  will  tour  the  UK,  visiting  Doncaster,  Kings  Lynn,  Inverness,  Birmingham,  Whitley  Bay,  Brighton,  Bristol,  Blackpool  and  Bournemouth.
ON TOUR NOW
For  more  information  see  www.breakinconvention.com Sadler’s  Wells,  London Sat  3  -  Mon  5  May www.sadlerswells.com 0844  412  4300  Doncaster  CAST Sat  10  May www.castindoncaster.com 01302  303  959 Kings  Lynn  Corn  Exchange Tue  13  May www.kingslynncorn exchange.co.uk 01553  764864  Inverness  Eden  Court Fri  16  &  Sat  17  May www.eden-Âcourt.co.uk 01463  234  234  Birmingham  Hippodrome Tue  20  &  Wed  21  May www.birmingham hippodrome.com 0844  338  5000 Â
Whitley  Bay  Playhouse Sat  24  May www.playhouse whitleybay.co.uk 0844  248  1588  Brighton  Dome Tue  27  &  Wed  28  May www.brightondome.org 01273  709709  Bristol  Colston  Hall Sat  31  May www.colstonhall.org 0844  887  1500  Blackpool  Grand Tue  3  June www.blackpoolgrand.co.uk 01253  290190 Bournemouth  Pavilion Sat  7  June www.bournemouth pavillion.co.uk 0844  576  3000
VOICE MAY 1-7, 2014 22A| THE SONG FOR STEPHEN
SEPTEMBER 26 - OCTOBER 2, 2013 CLASSIFIED THE VOICE | 17
DOREEN LAWRENCE THE ROAD TO JUSTICE
Charity Song for Stephen
L.O.V.E available on iTunes now! Closing date for entries July 31st 2014
e t a m i t l u e Th
: t i s i v ition
i t i r w song
t e p m o c g n
www.voice-online.co.uk