Nigerian Writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ‘Devastated’ After Death of 21-Month-Old Son

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is mourning the loss of her toddler son. 

Nkanu Nnamdi was 21 months old when he died following a brief illness on Wednesday, Jan. 7, according to the BBC.

“We’re deeply saddened to confirm the passing of one of Ms Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Dr Ivara Esege’s twin boys, Nkanu Nnamdi, who passed on Wednesday,” a statement by the 48-year-old writer’s communications team read, The Guardian reported Thursday, Jan. 8.

“The family is devastated by this profound loss, and we request that their privacy be respected during this incredibly difficult time,” continued the statement, signed by Omawumi Ogbe of GLG Communications. “We ask for your grace and prayers as they mourn in private.”

“No further statements will be made, and we thank the public and the media for respecting their need for seclusion during this period of immense grief.”

In a post to social media on Thursday, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu also confirmed the child’s death.

“With a deep sense of grief, I condole with Ms Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie @ChimamandaReal, her husband, Dr Ivara Esege, and the entire family on the passing of their son, Nkanu Nnamdi,” Tinubu wrote on X.

He stated that he too has lost a child, and that he empathizes with her family during their grief. 

“Ms Adichie is a literary icon who has brought joy and light to many homes globally, and I pray she and her family find strength in the Almighty in this trying hour,” the president said. “My prayers are with the family.”

Adichie gave birth to her first child, a daughter, in 2016. Her twin boys arrived via surrogate in 2024, per the BBC.

Throughout her award-winning career, the Purple Hibiscus author was named one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” in 2015.

That year, she wrote an open essay to graduates, encouraging them to “make feminism an inclusive party.” 

Adichie’s “We Should All Be Feminists” TED Talk was also sampled in Beyoncé’s 2013 song “**Flawless.”

In a previous interview with BBC’s Radio 4 Woman’s Hour, the Chino’s Treasure Hunt author shared why she kept the birth of her first child out of the public eye. 

“There’s a part of me that resents the way that women are expected to perform parenthood in a way that men are not… I just think it’s a very personal, private thing. I think often that women are judged too harshly on choices they make, choices about motherhood, choices about pregnancy… And I think they shouldn’t be,” Adichie said.

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Noting that she “just didn’t want to play the game,” the writer later added, “I wanted it to be something I shared only with the people who love me and who know me.”

In that same interview, Adichie discussed what it meant to her to raise a son. 

“I would say create a feminist son because I think that everyone should be a feminist… For me, the most important thing would be that we need to find ways to redefine masculinity… I would focus on those little ideas of redefining what it means to be a man,” she said.