Chimamanda Adichie at Calabash Lit Fest in Jamaica

Photo by Andre Bagoo

The Calabash International Literary Festival returned after a one-year break to offer a full feast of readings, conversations and discussions about writing, and music from May 25 to 27 at its customary location, Jakes in Treasure Beach, Jamaica. Although located in a remote village, the festival, which scheduled a mix of local and international talent, is the most popular event of its kind in Jamaica, pulling an attendance of thousands over the three days. The organisers—led by film producer Justine Henzell and poet and lecturer Kwame Dawes—had as the theme “Jubilation”, in recognition of Jamaica's 50th anniversary of political independence.

The opening evening, Friday, slated Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and New York City native, Victor Lavalle, under the banner “Two the Hard Way”. Although the organisers usually stay away from naming headliners, Ms Adichie was the pulling card for the hundreds who made her presentation their main event. Adichie's two novels, Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun, are well known to recreational readers in Jamaica, so her audience was excited to see her and they showed her love from the moment she touched the stage. She, in turn, seemed to sense the good vibe and executed a flawless delivery.

Her appearance in her trademark cosmopolitan styling went down well with the crowd which was made up mostly of professionals, academics, corporate executives and practitioners in the creative industries.

Photo by Andre Bagoo

Not all writers are captivating readers, but Ms Adichie had the full package. Adichie selected to read material about her own life and family in Nigeria and her natural voice has warm tones which carry her own words calmly, with conviction and with beauty. Perhaps unknown to her, she is a package that is already known to us—and beloved by us—the flowering of the daughter of a leading academic, exposed from a young age to good writing, informed discussions about ideas, and also passionately patriotic about her country.

Adichie’s first reading was recollections of the university campus house where she was raised, and which had been previously lived in by Nigerian writer, Chinua Achebe—one of her writing influences. She presents the home as a quiet place for reflections, dreams and a place to return to and feel rooted in. It is also where she started her first writing projects.

Achebe is the African writer that most Jamaican readers would know. He spoke a few years ago at the University of the West Indies, Mona, and many at the festival would have attended that event. For those in the audience who had the memory of his reading informing their senses as they listened to her, the dual experience would have seemed satisfying and meaningful.

May is a rainy month in Jamaica, even in the water-parched region of Treasure Beach, but it did not rain this year. Somehow, mosquitos find a way to survive and they bit into Adichie as she started her second selection. A volunteer lady-in-waiting, clad in unadorned white linen, wafted out of the audience and generously misted Adichie with repellent. She graciously acknowledged the pampering and flowed into the second reading.

Recollecting her Uncle Mai was a much more intimate reading. Adichie opened up on her personal experience of losing a loved one—a beloved uncle who died recently from a chronic disease. As writer, Adichie expertly handled bearing witness to the ongoing deterioration of someone who was close to her; and the inevitable committal of the body. Her words were clear, calm, accepting of what the family had to face, especially with his decision to limit his options for treatment.

Adichie became known to many in Jamaica through a speech that she delivered with thoughts on The Danger of a Single Story. That video went viral because of how she delivered that oft-lamented petulance that stories outside of the interest of major media outlets are not told. One listener said it was "revolutionary" because she was able to use her platform of fame to further the message with a clear, calm and beautiful delivery. Adichie packed those characteristics into her reading in Treasure Beach and at some time in the future she will know that Jamaicans reward that respect of audience with long memories of affection.

—Gwyneth Harold is a writer in Jamaica. Her book for young adults Bad Girls in School was published by Harcourt and is a part of the Caribbean Writers Series. She is currently working on another novel.