Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a prize-winning author, will provide the historic inaugural BBC Reith Lecture in 2022.
The renowned Reith Lectures were established by the BBC in 1948 to commemorate Sir John (later Lord) Reith, the organization’s first director-general, and his historic commitment to public service broadcasting. According to Lord Reith, broadcasting ought to be a public good that enhances global intellectual and cultural life.
To continue this custom, the BBC chooses an influential person to present a series of lectures each year. The Reith lectures have offered “insights into the work of some of the world’s finest thinkers,” according to the BBC, since its inception.
Numerous Nobel Laureates, including Aung Sung Su Kyi, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Bertrand Russell, and Professor Wole Soyinka, recipient of the Nobel Literature Prize, have delivered Reith Lectures in the past. Other notable individuals include Mark Carney, a former governor of both the Bank of England and the Bank of Canada, and renowned physicist Stephen Hawking.
Another accomplishment is Adichie’s selection to give the esteemed talk. For her writing, which has won multiple accolades and been translated into over thirty languages, the author has achieved fame on a global scale.
The Danger of a Single Story (2009), which has become one of the most watched TED Talks in history, and “We Should All Be Feminists” (2012), which was later turned into a book by popular demand, are just two of the thought-provoking articles and captivating talks that Adichie has consistently produced for audiences around the world.
A significant year for the BBC will be 2022 because it will mark the organization’s 100th birthday. The BBC decided to host a special series of lectures on freedom by four well-known people to commemorate the centenary, based on a speech by former U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
“In this BBC centenary year, I wanted to seek out four perspectives on this complicated topic based on FDR’s iconic Four Freedoms speech—a speech made in 1941 at such a hazardous time for the world,” said Mohit Bakaya, Controller of BBC Radio 4. I’m thrilled that these four wise men have consented to discuss freedom in light of their knowledge and experience.
Adichie will present a lecture on freedom of speech, while Lord Rowan Williams, a former archbishop of Canterbury, Darren McGarvey, a prize-winning author and musician, and Dr. Fiona Hill, a former adviser to U.S. Presidents Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and George W. Bush, will present lectures on freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear, respectively.
On October 31, a live audience at the BBC News Broadcasting House in London will record the lecture, which will then be broadcast on BBC Radio starting on November 30, 2022.
