It was announced yesterday that actress Thandie Newton has signed on to co-star in the upcoming Nigeria-set screen adaptation of author Ngozi Adichie’s novel Half Of A Yellow Sun, alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor and Dominic Cooper.

The 2006 novel, which won the Orange Prize for Fiction, is set during the Nigerian Civil War (otherwise known as the Nigerian-Biafran War), from 1967 – 1970, that saw Muslim- forces from northern Nigerian laying siege to the Christian Igbo of the south, who sought to secede from Nigeria after the widespread massacre of igbo people. The war claimed some 3 million lives.

Adichie's novel explores the impact of the conflict through the stories of a professor, a high-ranking political figure, a British citizen, and a young house boy.

Financing is already in place with production set to begin in March.

Soon after yesterday's news broke, my Twitter feed was partly abuzz about the project – but most specifically on the casting of Thandie Newton as an Igbo woman……

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But I'll reserve comment on all of that for now, and instead guide you directly to the petition which says everything you need to know about the matter; so click HERE to go THERE.