Failure Throwback: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

How To Fail With Elizabeth Day

Sony Music

Society & Culture

4.7 • 9.6K Ratings

🗓️ 13 August 2025

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week we revisit one of my all-time favourite guests: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, recorded in July 2021. Best known for Americanah and her globally resonant TED Talks, Chimamanda opens up about the profound grief of losing both her parents within a year—and the raw journey of coping in its aftermath. We talk candidly about: Her essay Notes on Grief Being a daughter and the complexities of motherhood Fertility struggles and writing through pain Her cultural influence and, yes...Kim Kardashian It’s heartfelt, honest, and deeply moving. Listen when you're ready to feel. ✨ IN THIS EPISODE: 00:00 Intro 03:18 Chimamanda's Background and Family 04:39 Exploring Feminism and Dissatisfaction 06:09 Navigating Sexism and Racism 08:29 Cultural Observations and Gender Roles 14:52 Academic Journey and Career Shift 18:12 Grief, Guilt, and Family Memories 35:04 Delight in Simple Pleasures 35:54 A Mother's Determination 38:11 Medical Malpractice and Loss 41:10 Coping with Grief 42:51 Seeking Comfort in Faith 51:20 Struggles with Writing 53:51 Motherhood and Creativity 01:01:44 Fashion, Individuality, and Social Media 💬 QUOTES TO REMEMBER: "I didn’t really intend to become this person who talks about feminism and political things… but my anger and my dissatisfaction just propels me." "It seems to me that I’ve always known… the world simply does not give women the same dignity it gives men." 🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS: Elizabeth’s upcoming one-off show at Cadogan Hall on 21 Sep for her new novel One of Us: ⁠https://www.fane.co.uk/elizabeth-day Elizabeth’s Substack: https://theelizabethday.substack.com/ Join the How To Fail community: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content 📚 WANT MORE? Danny O’Donoghue on navigating grief: https://link.chtbl.com/Fvd4L7ei Julia Stiles on grief and her directorial debut: https://link.chtbl.com/0RdPCiip Dorinda Medley on grief, identity and The Real Housewives: https://link.chtbl.com/Lf44HTRS 💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE? Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories 👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth: Instagram: @elizabday TikTok: @elizabday Podcast Instagram: @howtofailpod Website: www.elizabethday.org Substack: https://theelizabethday.substack.com/ Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to How to Fail, the podcast that turns failure on its head and uncovers the powerful
0:17.5	lessons hidden within. Now, I'm so excited to bring you an episode that was first
0:22.9	recorded in July 2021. The reason I want to take you back to this COVID lockdown time is because
0:31.0	I just adored meeting this exceptional writer. Actually, when I say meet, we recorded audio only and remotely, but it kind of
0:41.9	gave it a whole new level of intimacy. Since then, I have been lucky enough to meet Chimamanda
0:48.1	and Gossi Adichie in person, and she does not disappoint. She is just one of the most radiant writers and thinkers of our time.
0:57.7	And she was on my dream guest list when I first started How to Fail way back in 2018.
1:04.2	Her novel Americana remains one of my all-time favorite books. And you might have read her latest
1:10.6	dream count, which is actually one
1:13.7	reviewer called it a feminist war and peace and I just can't do better than that myself.
1:18.8	Our conversation delves into grief. It delves into Chimamanda's firsthand experience of loss
1:25.0	and how back then she was learning to cope with the death of both
1:29.1	her parents. It also examines her journey with fertility and her desire to write more quickly.
1:36.1	And I think all of her fans can agree. We'd really like her to get on with it, but it's always
1:41.8	worth the wait. I hope that you love listening to this episode,
1:46.0	whether it's for the first time or you're just here for a revisit. Thank you for being here,
1:51.3	and enjoy. Poppy's come to the end of her work visa. She partied most nights and now can't afford her flight back to the UK.
2:03.4	Her parents are annoyed, but not too worried.
2:05.5	With their HSBC Premier bank account,
2:07.4	they can transfer money to her account abroad at HSBC UK's best exchange rates.
2:11.7	So more of their hard-earned cash actually reaches its destination.
2:15.2	Everything's Premier when your bank account is.
	...

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