Her third novel, AMERICANAH has just won the 2013 Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize for fiction. Created in 1988 by the Chicago Tribune Newspaper, the annual prize is awarded to fiction and non-fiction books that reinforce and perpetuate the values of heartland America.
Speaking shortly on the winner, Elizabeth Taylor, Literary Editor, The Chicago Tribune revealed, "We loved AMERICANAH. It's a powerful, resonant novel and we would be delighted to celebrate it and try to share it with a wider audience."
"I'm very pleased. You never know what will happen when you write a novel. And for me, a Nigerian, to have written this book which is partly about America, and to receive this quintessentially American prize means that I have said something about America as seen through Nigerian eyes that Americans find interesting. I take that as a wonderful compliment. It reminds me of the ability of literature to make us become briefly alive in bodies not our own." The elated writer reacted to the honour.