Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, author of critically renowned and award-winning novels like 'Half of a Yellow Sun' 'Purple Hibiscus' and 'Dear Ijeawele' will receive the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal from Harvard University on October 6, 2022.
The W.E.B. Du Bois medal is the most prestigious award presented by Harvard to people in the field of African and African American studies.
Oprah Winfrey, Maya Angelou, Muhammad Ali, Steven Spielberg, Ava Duvernay, and Chinua Achebe are just a few of the past honorees.
This year's recipients of the award apart from Adichie are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Laverne Cox, Agnes Gund, Raymond J. McGuire, Deval Patrick, and Betye Saar.
The Hutchins Centre's director, University Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., said those selected showed "unyielding commitment to pushing the boundaries of representation and creating opportunities for advancement and participation for people who have been too often shut out from the great promise of our times."
Adichie was also a speaker at the Harvard College Class Day in 2018, and a Harvard Radcliffe Institute Fellow between 2011 and 2012. She also has 16 honorary doctorate degrees from some of the world’s renowned universities.