11 years after her last novel — Americanah —was published, Chimamanda Adichie has made a comeback with her new book, Dream Count.
The author in an interview with The Guardian discussed her new book, overcoming writer’s block, and welcoming twin boys in 2024.
The world-acclaimed and award-winning author also spoke about the intense curiosity surrounding her life, the profound losses she has experienced, and the challenges of balancing motherhood with her writing career.
In the interview with Charlotte Edwards, Chimamanda said: “I didn’t want to leave such a long gap between novels.
“When I got pregnant [with her daughter], something just happened. I had a number of years in which I was almost existentially frightened that I wouldn’t write again. It was unbearable.
“There are expressions like ‘writer’s block’ I don’t like to use because I’m superstitious. But I had many years in which I felt cast out from my creative self, cast out from the part of me that imagines and creates; I just could not reach it. I could write nonfiction, that was fine. But that’s not what my heart wanted.”
After her father’s passing in 2020, she said she struggled with the language to write Notes on Grief which was published in 2021). Then, when her mother died months later in 2021, she thought she didn’t possess the words to write about her mother.
It was then that she started writing Dream Count, “and only when I was almost done did I realise, my God, it’s about my mother. It wasn’t intentional. I’m happy that it’s not a sad book. She wouldn’t want a sad book dedicated to her.”
Speaking about why she keeps her private life hidden, Chimamanda was quoted as saying, “So, here’s the thing, Nigerians are… they want to know about your personal life. Because of that, I am resistant. I very rarely talk about it.”
