On Friday, October 30, 2009 YAP (Young African Professionals) and the Global Development Matters Meetup hosted an evening with Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie at the Center for Global Development in Washington DC. Being a big fan of Chimamanda's work, this event was the highlight of my weekend. The evening started with Chimamanda reading a few pages from her latest book, "The Thing Around Your Neck." Without a doubt, Chimamanda is a gifted storyteller with the ability to pull readers into the lives and experiences of the characters in her stories.

During the second half of the evening, Chimamanda was joined by author Uzodinma Iweala, who hails from Nigeria and Washington DC. Uzodinma has received notable accolades for his book "Beasts of No Nation" which tells the story of a young boy who is forced to become a child solider in an unnamed West African country. Chimamanda made mention of the sibling-like relationship between her and Uzodinma which showed in there conversational style of the Q&A session. Uzodinma asked Chimamanda about everything from her feelings about interracical relationships, her inspiration to write, foreign aid in Africa, and her thoughts behind Africa Not Being A Single Story. Chimamanda expressed in response to questions about foreign aid from the West her disagreement with the West showing "pity to African nations as opposed to dignity."

Chimamanda is truly a voice for the youth of Nigeria and Africans using creativity to disspell false notions of the single story of Africa told by the media. The truth is Africa is beautiful, rich, intelligent, creative, and diverse.