Award-winning author Chimamanda Adichie and her husband welcomed twins at the age of 47.
Her interview with The Guardian on Saturday revealed the boys, who were born in April 2024.
The author disclosed that in order to “protect” them, she concealed the birth of her twin from the public.
She claimed that she is even more hesitant to share because Nigerians are curious about other people’s private life.
“I want to protect my children. I’m okay with having them mentioned, but I don’t want the piece to become about them,” she said.
“So, here is the thing, Nigerians are sosy. They want to know about your personal life. Because of that, I am resistant. I very rarely talk about it,” she said.
Adichie will be releasing her first feature-length novel in 11 years in March.
The novel titled ‘Dream Count’ is a reflection on love, desire, and the intricacies of womanhood explored through the lives of four distinct women.
Talking about her writing hiatus, she revealed it happened unplanned after she got pregnant with her first child.
Adichie said she struggled for years to reconnect with her creative self after feeling “cast out” from the part of her that imagines and creates, even though she could still write nonfiction.
“I did not want to leave such a long gap between novels. When I got pregnant with my daughter, something just happened,” she said.
“I had a number of years in which I was almost existentially frightened that I wouldn’t write again. It was unbearable.
“There are expressions like ‘writer’s block’ I don’t like to use because I’m superstitious. But I had many years in which I felt cast out from my creative self, cast out from the part of me that imagines and creates; I just could not reach it.
“I could write nonfiction, that was fine. But that’s not what my heart wanted.”
