Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has spoken publicly about the death of her 21-month-old son, Nkanu, and how the loss has altered her relationship with Nigeria. In a new New York Times profile by Veronica Chambers, Adichie and her husband, Ivara Esege, recount the events surrounding their son’s death in Lagos in January after he suffered cardiac arrest during a medical procedure. The couple has called for a coroner’s inquest and says their aim is to help improve Nigeria’s healthcare system and prevent other families from experiencing similar loss.
Nkanu’s death comes after a series of bereavements for Adichie and her family. Her father, James Nwoye Adichie, died in 2020, an experience that led her to write Notes on Grief, while her mother, Grace Ifeoma Adichie, also died in the years that followed. The death of her son, however, has complicated Adichie’s longstanding connection to Nigeria – a country that has shaped much of her fiction, including Americanah, and which she has continued to regard as one of her homes. In the interview, she says that while Nigeria once gave her “everything I needed to be able to write,” she now feels she does not want to return.
The profile also examines the couple’s pursuit of answers through the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria and a coroner’s inquest, as well as the grief of losing a child while raising their surviving children. For readers of Adichie’s work, the interview offers a deeply personal account of the country, family and grief that have long intersected with her writing. Read the full New York Times profile by Veronica Chambers below:
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