Nigerian author, Anne Giwa-Amu has accused fellow author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie of plagiarizing her work.
According to her, Adichie stole bits if her work, Sade: United We Stand to write her bestseller, Half of A Yellow Sun.
Speaking in a video shared on Youtube, she said Chimamanda was not the only person who plagiarized her work as late renowned author, Chinua Achebe was aware of it, seeing that he gave her the work to rewrite.
Speaking during the video, she said “As this was the original story of Sade, it provoked me to purchase a copy of Half of a Yellow Sun. On receiving the book, I found that the front cover of Half of a Yellow Sun was similar to Sade.
“They both had a profile picture of a young African woman with the colours of the Biafran flag, excluding green.
“On reading Half of a Yellow Sun, I discovered that it was a rewrite of Shade. In this video, I’ll put forward evidence to show that after Heimannn Publishers published Shade in 1999, Chinua Achebe contacted Chimamanda Adichie who started to work on the infringing novel with the assistance of three editors.”
She also took to her website to share some documents to support her claim that Chimamanda plagiarized her work.
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Responding to the accusations, Chimamanda wrote:
STATEMENT REGARDING FALSE CLAIMS FROM ANNE GIWA-AMU
We, the Wylie Agency, are Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s literary agents.
In 2016, Anne Giwa-Amu brought a legal claim against Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and her publishers. Giwa-Amu alleged that Adichie’s novel HALF OF A YELLOW SUN had plagiarized her own novel.
A professional independent reader was appointed to read both novels. The reader concluded that there was absolutely no basis for Giwa-Amu’s claim and advised that the claim should not be pursued. Giwa-Amu nevertheless continued with the claim.
On 15 February 2019, Anne Giwa-Amu’s claim brought against Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and her publishers was struck out by the court. The court determined that her claim was ‘an abuse of the court’s process.’
The court ordered Giwa-Amu to pay Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and her publishers the sum of £14,250, which Giwa-Amu failed to pay. The court also ordered Giwa-Amu to pay the legal costs Adichie incurred in defending her baseless claim. Till date, Giwa-Amu has not paid the money.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and her publishers had never heard of Giwa-Amu’s novel until she brought her delusional claim. Her present allegations are false, libellous and constitute a harassment to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Further legal actions are being taken.
Signed: The Wylie Agency.
Photo Credit: Getty
