--- title: New York City Wants Everyone to Read Americanah description: The Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment is asking all New Yorkers to band together to read the same book: Americanah canonical: https://time.com/4703060/new-york-city-americanah-chimamanda-ngozi-adichie/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-16T13:00:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:51:41.318Z article:section: Ideas og:title: New York City Wants Everyone to Read This Book og:description: Almost 50,000 people voted on the citywide book club pick og:url: https://time.com/4703060/new-york-city-americanah-chimamanda-ngozi-adichie/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt827c53619230ef9b/6988be958e06010b0a46992c/books1.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Almost Corner Bookshop. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: New York City Wants Everyone to Read This Book twitter:description: Almost 50,000 people voted on the citywide book club pick twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt827c53619230ef9b/6988be958e06010b0a46992c/books1.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # New York City Wants Everyone to Read This Book by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Mar 16, 2017 1:00 PM UTC  Rome, Lazio, Italy, Europe Rome, Lazio, Italy, EuropeGetty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Mar 16, 2017 1:00 PM UTC For the first time, the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment is asking all New Yorkers to band together to read the same book; Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s 2013 novel [_Americanah_](https://www.amazon.com/Americanah-Chimamanda-Ngozi-Adichie/dp/0307455920/?tag=timecom-20). The book, about a young Nigerian woman arriving to study in the U.S. and confronting new realities about race, gender and culture, won the 2013 National Book Critics Circle Fiction award. All New Yorkers will be able to access the audiobook for free for 90 days on Scribd. Copies have also been provided to each of the city’s library branches, which will celebrate with their own programming. Special events will also take place around the city in collaboration with BuzzFeed, a partner on the project. “I’m so happy that my novel _Americanah_ is the winner of the ‘One Book, One New York’ program,” Adichie said in a statement. “Whether you check it out from your local library, pick up a copy at your local bookstore, or even start your own book club to read along with friends, I hope you enjoy _Americanah –_ which I like to think of as a book about love, immigration, race, hair, and so much more.” Nearly 50,000 votes were cast around the city in choosing the book, which went up against [_Between the World and Me_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0812993543/?tag=timecom-20) by Ta-Nehisi Coates, [_The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594483299/?tag=timecom-20) by Junot Díaz, [_The Sellout_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250083257/?tag=timecom-20) by Paul Beatty and [_A Tree Grows in Brooklyn_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0061120073/?tag=timecom-20) by Betty Smith. Earlier this month, Adichie published a nonfiction book called [_Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/152473313X/?tag=timecom-20). Read TIME’s recent 10 Questions with Adichie [here](http://motto.time.com/4690165/chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-dear-ijeawele-10-questions/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4703060/new-york-city-americanah-chimamanda-ngozi-adichie/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4703060/new-york-city-americanah-chimamanda-ngozi-adichie/"},"headline":"New York City Wants Everyone to Read This Book","datePublished":"2017-03-16T13:00:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:51:41.318Z","description":"Almost 50,000 people voted on the citywide book club pick","url":"https://time.com/4703060/new-york-city-americanah-chimamanda-ngozi-adichie/","keywords":["Books","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt827c53619230ef9b/6988be958e06010b0a46992c/books1.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt827c53619230ef9b/6988be958e06010b0a46992c/books1.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Almost Corner Bookshop.","caption":"Almost Corner Bookshop.","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4703060/new-york-city-americanah-chimamanda-ngozi-adichie/","name":"New York City Wants Everyone to Read This Book"}}]}] ```