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South Africa’s star comedy export, Trevor Noah, and Nigeria’s literary legend, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, shared the stage at the PEN World Voices Festival, a week-long international literary event held annually in New York, on Wednesday.
They were the hot ticket at the festival’s sold-out opening, and much of their conversation focused on their experiences of blackness and racism living in the US.
Noah has been embraced in literary circles since publishing his autobiography, Born a Crime, late last year. He scooped two awards at the 48th annual National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Image Awards ceremony in February.
“It took me too long to realise that in the black room, we were laughing at our thing,” said the host of The Daily Show to Adichie.
“In the white room, I was giving them the licence to laugh at black people. I had to be careful of what I share and where. Where you give it away could create a different connotation.”
While voicing her dismay at US President Donald Trump and US voters, Adichie remained positive, saying: “African-American history didn’t start on a slave ship; it started in Africa. I believe there are cultural traditions that have been passed down, and diluted, but it’s still there.”
You can see the full talk online at worldvoice.pen.org
