Chimamanda to release first novel in 10 years

Globally acclaimed and award-winning Nigerian author, Chimamanda Adichie, has announced her latest novel, marking the end of a 10-year wait for her many devoted readers.

Titled Dream Count, the novel is scheduled for release on 3 March 2025. This highly anticipated new work will be published in the UK and the Commonwealth by 4th Estate, and in the US and Canada by Knopf.

Sharing the news on her Instagram page on Wednesday, Chimamanda said: “Dream Count is serious, curious, probing, and funny. The writing process has been arduous, but also filled with ardour. I am deeply excited about this book. I am so proud to have finished it. I cannot wait for my wonderful fans to read it.”

A poignant tale of love, longing, and deep-seated desires, Dream Count intertwines the stories of four women on their journey toward self-discovery.

Chiamaka is a Nigerian travel writer living in America. Alone in the midst of the pandemic, she recalls her past lovers and grapples with her choices and regrets.

Zikora, her best friend, is a lawyer who has succeeded in everything until — betrayed and heartbroken — she must turn to the person she thought she needed the least.

Omelogor, Chiamaka’s bold, outspoken cousin, is a financial powerhouse in Nigeria who begins to question how well she knows herself. And Kadiatou, Chiamaka’s housekeeper, is proudly raising her daughter in America but faces an unimaginable hardship that threatens everything she has worked to achieve.

This latest masterpiece from the award-winning author promises to take readers on a reflective journey, exploring existential questions that resonate with us all.

The book addresses questions such as: Is true happiness ever attainable, or is it merely a fleeting state? And how honest must we be with ourselves to love and be loved?

Chimamanda is a highly decorated writer and public speaker whose work has been translated into over 55 languages. She received the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for her first novel, Purple Hibiscus (2003), won the Orange Prize for her second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun (2006), and the US National Book Critics Circle Award for her third novel, Americanah (2013), which was named one of The New York Times Top Ten Best Books of 2013.

A story from her collection, The Thing Around Your Neck, was awarded the O. Henry Prize. In 2023, she published her latest work, a children’s book titled Mama’s Sleeping Scarf, under the pseudonym Nwa Grace-James.

Her 2009 TED Talk, The Danger of a Single Story, is one of the most-viewed TED Talks of all time, while her 2012 TEDx Euston talk We Should All Be Feminists sparked a global conversation about feminism and was published as a book in 2014. A 2022 recipient of Harvard University’s highest honour, the W. E. B. Du Bois Medal, Chimamanda resides in Nigeria and the United States.