Twelve years after the groundbreaking success of Americanah, Nigerian Writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie returns to the literary world with The Dream Count, a powerful new novel shaped by personal loss and an enduring belief in the emotional truths that fiction can reveal.
In an interview with ARISE NEWS on Thursday, the acclaimed author opened up about grief, identity, and why Nigeria, despite its challenges, remains central to her creative universe.
“I experienced grief, and continue to experience grief,” she said. “I had the most wonderful parents. I adored them. My sense of identity was being the daughter of Grace and James.”
Adichie described her mother’s death as something she still hasn’t come to terms with. “I think I’ve made peace with losing my father,” she said. “But I haven’t lost my mother. I still ask myself, ‘Did it really happen?’”
When prompted with the quote often attributed to Rumi “The wound is where the light enters you” Adichie responded quietly but firmly, “I’m not sure my wound let any light in.”
“We grieve because we’re fortunate to have loved,” she added. “But sometimes I think, what’s the point of loving if we’re going to lose the people we love? And yet, I do believe that love is its own worth.”
She also spoke of how the act of writing after her mother’s death became an unexpected form of survival. “I didn’t set out to write a book inspired by her,” Adichie said. “But after I finished, I went back and realised my mother’s spirit was in it. I truly believe she guided me.”
In The Dream Count, Adichie fictionalises the story of Kadiatu inspired by Nafissatou Diallo, the Guinean hotel worker who accused French politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault. Through this character, Adichie aims to restore humanity to women whose identities are flattened by public scandal.
“I wanted to remind readers that these women are full human beings not just the woman who accused a powerful man,” she said. “We were told to empathise with him what he might lose.
But with her? Endless suspicion. Is she a prostitute? Is she in it for the money? That wounded me.”
Back home in Nigeria to kick off her Dream Count tour, Adichie addressed the long-standing concern about reading culture in the country.
“I’m going to disagree with the idea that Nigerians aren’t literate,” she said. “There’s a reading community here especially among young people. The issue is often affordability.
Erizia Rubyjeana
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