During Michelle Obama’s ‘Becoming’ book tour last year, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was one of the handful of women, who got to have a one-on-one discussion with the former first lady in dissecting the motivation behind the book and other issues surrounding it. Now, the bestselling author of books namely; Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sand is plastered boldly alongside 14 other women including the iconic Jane Fonda on the cover of British Vogue’s September issue co-edited by the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle.
The issue is branded ‘Forces of Change’ and highlights the impressive talent of trailblazing female changemakers, who are breaking barriers and setting the agenda across the globe. Chimamanda secured the cover spot based on her title as an author, making great impact with narrated tales in her novels.
The cover co-stars, Adwoa Aboah (the mental health campaigner and model), Adut Akech (the former refugee and model) Ramla Ali (the former refugee and boxer), Jacinda Ardern (the Prime Minister of New Zealand), Sinead Burke (the diversity advocate and lecturer), Gemma Chan (the campaigner and actor), Leverne Cox (the LGBTQIA+ advocate, actor and producer), Jane Fonda (the campaigner and actor), Salma Hayek Pinault (the women’s rights advocate, actor and producer), Francesca Hayward (the Royal Ballet principal dancer), Yara Shahidi (the youth vote activist and actor), Jameela Jamil (the body positivity advocate an actor), Greta Thunberg (the climate change campaigner and student) and Christy Turlington Burns (the maternal health advocate and model.
On the cover, the 16th spot is left blank at the request of the Duchess to include the readers who form part of this unique moment and encourage them to use their own platforms to effect change.
Considering co-editing with HRH Meghan a great honour and privilege, Editor-in-chief, Edward Enninful disclosed that the selected women for the cover are people the Duchess considers as great admirers of her generation therefore skipping her chances of being the cover girl for them, “From the very beginning, we talked about the cover, whether she would be on it or not. In the end, she felt that it would be in some ways a boastful thing to do for this particular project. She wanted, instead, to focus on the women she admired.”
