Foundrae, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Created This Medallion

New York—In her jewelry store that doubles as a lending library on Manhattan’s Lispenard Street, Foundrae founder Beth Bugdaycay recently packed the house so people could hear from her latest medallion muse—award-winning author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

A native of Nigeria who now divides her time between her home country and the United States, Adichie is the author of six books, including “Half of a Yellow Sun,” which won the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction in 2007, and “Americanah,” which won the 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction.

In 2009 Adichie gave a TED Talk that remains one of the organization’s most-viewed, called “The Danger of a Single Story.” In 2012, she delivered a subsequent TED Talk titled “We Should All Be Feminists,” which she adapted into a book by the same name.

Bugdaycay created the “Freedom of Expression” charm in honor of the writer, combining her belief that jewelry should be a tool of expression—in this case, expressing a belief in supporting freedom of speech—with her love of literature that is wholly evident at her store.

Bookshelves surround the sales floor at Foundrae, stacked and lined with works on jewelry, both old and new, alongside classics such as Jane Austen’s “Emma” and books from modern-day authors like Louise Erdrich. Customers are allowed to borrow from the in-store library and are welcome to donate to it too.

When the Freedom of Expression medallion starts selling in the store and at Foundrae retail partners in May, 100 percent of the retail profits will go to Pen America, a nonprofit comprised of professional writers—novelists, journalists, editors, poets, playwrights, etc.—as well as readers and other supporters who work to protect freedom of expression worldwide, standing up on behalf of writers who are censored, threatened or jailed.   

Adichie is a long-standing member of PEN alongside authors such as Barbara Kingsolver, Toni Morrison, and Salman Rushdie.

“I am kind of jet-lagged because I’m still on Lagos time, so if at some point I start to slur my speech it’s not because I’ve had too much [to drink],” Adichie confessed as she took the floor at the March 12 event, drawing laughter from the crowd. “But I do want to say that Pen does such exceptional work so for me to be here supporting Pen, it was an easy thing. I didn’t have to think about it.

“I think it’s