Adichie
Renowned writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has opened up on her struggles with depression, revealing how it affected her passion for writing fiction.
In an interview with CNN Africa, Adichie said during the challenging period, she felt deeply unhappy, describing depression as a constant shadow that was hard to escape.
She admitted: “I was fighting depression. In that period, just deeply unhappy. Deeply unhappy. And there are ways to try and hide your unhappiness, but you know, it’s there. It’s a constant sort of shadow with you. And it’s not a good place to be.
“So in the years that I couldn’t write — and really not being able to write fiction when fiction is a thing that you deeply love — it’s just a terrible place to be.”
According to her, she tried to fill the creative gap by taking on more speaking engagements, hoping to find inspiration, but often returned feeling miserable, instead, she found solace in reading books and poetry, which helped her reconnect with language and her craft.“I did a number of things. I tried to distract myself. I said yes to many more things than I ordinarily would because I just thought the writing is not happening. Okay, why don’t I just go and give the speech? And part of it was also, maybe if I go, then I’ll get inspired… but then I wouldn’t. Then I’d come back and be miserable. Nation
