Internationally known novelist and writer of Half of a Yellow Sun, Chimamamda Ngozi Adochie has threatened legal action against Anne Giwa-Amu, for accusing her of plagiarism.
Half of a Yellow Sun was published in 2006 and received the prestigious Orange Prize for Fiction the following year. It also got praises from Chinua Achebe and The New York Times.
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But, Anne Giwa-Amu, a Nigerian and Welsh heritage, shared a video on YouTube yesterday, April 9, claiming that her book, SADE, which was published in 1996, was plagiarized by Adichie when she wrote Half of a Yellow Sun.
Giwa-Amu said that she noticed the plagiarism and similarities between the two books in 2013 when she saw a poster in London advertising the movie adaptation for Half of a Yellow Sun.
“The poster depicted a love story between a mixed-race woman, played by Thandie Newton and an Igbo man, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, set in Nigeria, Biafra.”
“As this was the original story of SADE, it provoked me to purchase a copy of ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’.”
She said that she realized that both of the book covers shared similarities after receiving it and alleged that upon reading Adichie’s book, she “discovered it was a rewrite of ‘SADE” which she initially titled THE HUMAN SACRIFICE when she started writing the script in 1992.
She alleged that after her book was approved and published by Heinemann Education Books Nigeria in the West African country in 1999, Chinua Achebe, who was one of the board of directors of the publishing firm, contacted Adichie “who started to work on the infringing novel.”
Regarded as “the father of modern African literature,” Achebe is a well-known mentor of Adichie.
Reacting to the trending video of Giwa-Amu on YouTube, Adichie and her representatives, Wylie Agency, described the accusation as “libelous.”
Adichie and her publishers claimed, in a statement, that they never knew about the book, SADE, until the allegations were raised.
They recalled that Giwa-Amu’s claim of plagiarism had since been dismissed by a court in the United Kingdom in 2019 when she brought the case against them.
They said that a professional independent reader who was ordered by the court to read both books “concluded that there was absolutely no basis for Giwa-Amu’s claim and advised that the claim should not be pursued.
“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 statement read.
It said that Giwa-Amu was ordered by the court to pay Adichie and her publishers £14,250 ($16, 908) which she is yet to settle, alongside Adichie’s legal fees.
“Her present allegations are false, libellous and constitute a harassment to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Further legal actions are being taken,” the statement said.