The family of Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has confirmed that her young son has died.
According to the BBC and The Guardian, Adichie’s representative, Omawumi Ogbe of GLG Communications, stated that Nkanu Nnamdi, a twin and the son of Adichie and her husband, Dr. Ivara Esege, passed away on Wednesday, January 7, of an illness. He was 21 months old.
“The family is devastated by this profound loss, and we request that their privacy be respected during this incredibly difficult time,” the statement said. “We ask for your grace and prayers as they mourn in private.”
The president of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu, also shared his condolences on social media.
“As a parent myself who has suffered the loss of a loved one, no grief is as devastating as losing a child,” he wrote in a post on X. “I empathise with the family at this difficult time, and I mourn this sad loss with them.”
He continued, “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.”
Adichie, 48, had her first child, a girl, in 2016, and had her twins, both boys, via surrogate in 2024.
An influential writer whose words range from the critically acclaimed and award-winning novels like “Half of a Yellow Sun” to the lyrics on Beyoncé’s 2013 hit “***Flawless,” Adichie has spoken transparently about motherhood and loss, even sharing how the loss of both her parents within a year of each other during the Covid-19 pandemic and her first pregnancy caused her to have writer’s block. Her new novel, “Dream Count,” is the first she’s released in over a decade.
Sharing the experience with CNN, she said that not being able to write fiction was “a terrible place to be.”
“When the words finally returned, they emerged in a new voice,” she said. “My real self is the self that writes fiction. I’m grateful that it’s back.”
