“This book, Dream Count, has been in my head for many years. I knew I wanted to write about women’s lives, and I really believe that my mother helped me come back to fiction writing.”
-Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, episode 410 of Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso
“Everything’s changed,” says author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. “I’ve changed, and every book is a different person.” It’s true: in the 12 years since the release of her best-seller, Americanah, Adichie has oscillated between beloved novelist, public intellectual, and feminist icon. This spring, however, she’s returned to her true love: fiction.
We sat recently to discuss her excellent new book, Dream Count (5:20), the decade-long writer’s block she pushed through to publish again (7:00), the profound, familial loss that upended her life (9:55), and the experience that turned her into a feminist (21:20). Then, Adichie reflects on her childhood growing up in the aftermath of the Biafran War (34:42), the importance of seeing yourself in literature (39:00), her affinity for American universities (41:50), and how her racial awakening culminated in Americanah (44:49).
On the back-half: a wide-ranging, candid exchange around the erosion of free speech (53:36) and the American left (56:12), how she’s grappled with backlash (58:45), her case for intellectual curiosity (1:11:40), the prophetic work of W.E.B. Du Bois (1:13:40), and where she finds inspiration for the page (1:19:00).
Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at [email protected].
Show-notes:
- Read Chimamanda’s new novel Dream Count.
- Find more of her books: Notes on Grief, Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions, We Should All Be Feminists, Americanah, Half of a Yellow Sun, and Purple Hibiscus.
- Read her essay How I Became Black in America in The Atlantic.
- Learn more about her work on her website.
- Follow Chimamanda on Instagram.
- For more talks, hear our episodes with Zadie Smith, George Saunders, Nikki Giovanni, Margaret Atwood, and Ta-Nehisi Coates.
- Order your Talk Easy mug in cream and navy or our vinyl record with Fran Lebowitz.
Illustrations by Krishna Shenoi. Reference photograph by Manny Jefferson.
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