Esteemed African writer and one of Nigeria’s finest, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, breaks her over a decade-long silence with “Dream Count”, a fictional work that chronicles the lives of four Nigerian women after the COVID-19 pandemic dealt a paralytic blow.
Adichie, who recently welcomed her twin boys at 47, has left the mouths of Nigerians agape with her reasons for jettisoning the much-expected christening jamborees associated with public figures.
In an exclusive interview, the multiple award-winning writer opens up about the nuances of striking an equilibrium between career and motherhood, especially with the arrival of her twin boys. “I had many years in which I felt cast out of my creative self…I just could not reach it,” she says.
The plot of Adichie’s “Dream Count”‘ plot discusses the intricacies of African and African American relationships. Just like “Americanah”, the fiction is set between Nigeria and the United States. In the story, women, as usual, play the principal characters by virtue of the societal expectations of their lives and how they should be controlled.
Speaking about her expertise in making her family and marital affairs impregnable, especially shrouding the delivery of her twin boys 10 months ago in secrecy, Adichie’s response was simple: “I want to protect my children… I’m okay with having them mentioned, but I don’t want the piece to become about them.”
Adichie’s contribution to the literary industry remains an indelible mark. Her backpedaling into the industry is expected to generate traction due to her compelling storytelling prowess.
Dream Count will be published by Random House on March 4, 2025.
About the Author
