Award-winning novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has fiercely dismissed plagiarism claims on her award-winning novel Half of a Yellow Sun through her literary agency- Wylie.
In a Youtube video uploaded on Saturday, March 14, 2020, Nigerian-Welsh author Anne Giwa-Amu accused Adichie of plagiarising her own debut novel, “Sade” which was published in 1996 for the latter’s 2006 novel “Half of a Yellow Sun.” In the video, Giwa-Amu described Adichie’s book as “a rewrite of Sade” and said that “no one should profit from stealing another person’s work”. She then uploaded a lengthy document to her website laying out what she called “similarities” between the two novels.
Sade which is set during the Biafran war follows the mixed-race daughter of a Nigerian supreme court judge, who falls for an engaged barrister. Adichie’s Orange Prize-winning novel, published in 2006, follows lives torn apart by the Biafran war, focusing on an educated young woman, her houseboy and her lover, a professor.
The Nigerian-Welsh author also challenged Chimamanda in the Youtube video to publish her email correspondence with Chinua Achebe, publish the original manuscript she sent to the editors and publish the editor’s reviews. In a statement from Adichie’s literary agency- Wylie, They denied Giwa-Amu’s allegations and said that the author and her publishers “had never heard of Giwa-Amu’s novel until she brought her delusional claim” in 2016 when she first alleged plagiarism.
According to the literary agency, a “professional independent reader” studied both novels and “concluded that there was absolutely no basis for Giwa-Amu’s claim.” But Giwa-Amu continued with it, and in February 2019 her claim was struck out by the court, which found it to be “an abuse of the court’s process.” Giwa-Amu was ordered to pay Adichie and her publishers £14,250 (₦6,310,702) as well as the legal costs incurred by Adichie.“Her present allegations are false, libellous and constitute harassment to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Further legal actions are being taken,” said the Wylie Agency, adding that “to date, Giwa-Amu has not paid the money.”
Maintaining her stance in a Facebook post, Anne Giwa-Amu stated “ The Wylie Agency are the literary agents to Chimamanda Adichie and as such, they cannot claim to have instructed a professional ‘independent’ reader. If the claim had been heard both parties would have had to agree to an expert report. This did not happen and it is the first I have heard of any professional independent reader.”
Although Giwa-Amu stated that the cost imposed on her by the court is irrational, she is still making her case for plagiarism and has refused to step down. Chimamanda has however not publicly commented on the allegations against her.
