Chimamanda and Free Speech .What does it cost for women?

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie gave this year’s first Reith Lecture, on the subject of Freedom of Speech.

She is a superb novelist, a global advocate for women, and a speaker of immense poise and nuance. Her lecture could not have come at a more apposite time.

Her main argument was that, rather than state repression, today it is self-censorship and the ideological tribes that we divide ourselves into that we need to worry about. These are what have recently had the most terrible effect on literary and cultural production.

She was not just talking about social media, but inevitably this formed the backdrop to some of what she said.

Chimamanda does not use Twitter and tries to remain free of it. Someone runs her feed. She is told only what she needs to be told.

Perhaps if we spent less time on Twitter, we would  all write great novels like her but the sad truth is, we wouldn’t

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